.^- 


A?  vF  A"" 


'\ 


^^RINCE   FORTUNATUS 


a  Bovel 


BY 


WILLIAM  BLACK 

author  of  "  a  princess  of  thule  "  "  macleod  of  dare  " 
"in  far  lochaber"  etc. 


ILLUSTRATED 


NEW   YORK 
HARPER     &    BROTHERS,    FRANKLIN    SQUARE 


1890 


R.    ^ 


WILLIAM  BLACK'S  NOVELS. 


LIBRARY  EDITION. 

20  vols.,  12nio,  Cloth,  $1  25  per  vol.     Complete  Sets,  $22  50. 
I   SABINA   ZEMBRA. 


A  DAUGHTER  OF  HETH. 

A  PRINCESS  OF  THULE. 

GREEN   PASTURES   AND  PICCA- 
DILLY. 

IN  FAR  LOCHABER. 

IN  SILK  ATTIRE. 

JUDITH    SHAKESPEARE.      Illus- 
trated by  Abbey. 

KILMENY. 

MACLEOD  OF  DARE.     Illustrated. 

MADCAP  VIOLET. 

PRINCE  FORTUNATUS.     Ill'd. 

YOLANDE. 


SHANDON  BELLS.     Illustrated. 

SUNRISE. 

THAT  BEAUTIFUL  WRETCH.  Il- 
lustrated. 

THE  STRANGE  ADVENTURES  OF 
A  HOUSE-BOAT.     Illu.strated. 

THE  STRANGE  ADVENTURES  OF 
A  PHAETON. 

THREE  FEATHERS. 

WHITE   HEATHER. 

WHITE  WINGS.     Illustrated. 

Illustrated. 


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Pum.i.'^HEi)  liY  HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  Nkw  York. 

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CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  A  Rehearsal 6 

II.  The  Great  God  Pan 21 

III.  Nina 37 

IV.  Country  and  Town 55 

V.  Wars  and  Humous 73 

VI.  A  Departure 90 

VII.  In  Strathaivron 106 

VIII.  The  Twelfth 123 

IX.  Venator  Immemor 142 

X.  AivRON  AND  Geinig 159 

XI.  The  Phantom  Stag 174 

XII.  A  Globe  of  Gold-fish 192 

XIII.  A  New  Experience 207 

XIV.  A  Magnanimous  Rival 225 

XV.  "Let  the  Strucken  Deer  go  Weep" 243 

XVI.  An  Awakening 259 

XVII.  A  Crisis 276 

XVIII.  An  Invocation 294 

XIX.  Entrapped 310 

XX.  In  Direr  Straits 326 

XXI.  In  a  Den  of  Lions,  and  Thereafter 342 

XXIL  Prius  Dementat 359 

XXIII.  A  Memorable  Day 376 

XXIV.  Friends  in  Need 393 

XXV.  Changes 410 

XXVI.  Towards  the  Dawn 425 

XXVII.  A  Reunion 430 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


"She  draggkd  off  the  engagement-ring,  and  dashed  it 

ON   THE    FLOOR    IN    FRONT    OF    HIS    FEET " FrOUthptece. 

"You     SAT     AT    YOUR    FEET    THAT     I    WEPT    IN    DESPAIR,"    ETC.     Fadng  p.       18 

"When  they  had  finished  supper,  Lionel   Moore   lit  a 

cigarette,  and   his  friend   a   briar-root  pipe ".     .     .  "  34 

"She  turned  from  him  and  put  her  hand  on  the  handle 
OF  the  door.  At  the  same  instant  he  caught  her 
arm" "  40 

"They  passed  in  through  the  gate,  and  found  the  door 

left  open  for  them  " "  64 

"Indeed,  the  young  lady  was  so  rude  as  to  leave  the 
table  more  than  once  and  go  and  stand  at  the 
open  window  " "  82 

"And     YET     HERE     WAS     THIS     GIRL     WATCHING      COOLLY     AND 

critically  the  motion  of  the  line" "  116 

"With  his  forefinger  the  keeper  indicated  the  stag  at 

WHICH  Lionel  was  to  fire" "  152 

"  Cautiously   old   Robert    crept   down.      When   he   was 

close   to   the   water,  he   bared   his   right   arm   and 

GRASPED  the  GAFF  BY  THE  HANDLE" "      170 

" '  There,  he's   down   again  on   his   knees.     Come   aweh, 

SIR ;   we'll  go  after  him  '  " "  186 

"  Robert  got  the  small  parcels  and  thk  drinking-cups 

out  of  the  BAG,  AND  ARRANGED  THEM  ON  THE  WARM 

turf" "  198 

"'Good-bye,  Mr.  Moore,'  said  the  pleasant  -  mannered 
young  matron  to  him,  as  she  took  his  hand  for  a 

moment" "  210 

" '  What  are  you  two  conspiring  about  now  ?'  Lionel 
asked,  from  the  bench  on  which  he  had  carelessly 
seated  himself " "  243 


VI 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


"And  Nina,  hanging  some  way  back,  could  see  them  be- 
ing  PRESENTED   TO   MiSS   BURGOYNE  " Facil\ 

"'Why,  you  seem  to  know  everybody,  Mr.  Moore!'  she 

SAID    TO   him,   with    A   SMILE  " 

"  '  i  want  to  make  for  myself  a  new  future,  if  you  will 

share  it  with  me.'  " 

"  He  threw  his  arms  on  the  table  before  him,  and  hid 

HIS   face" 

"  And  AGAIN  SHE  FILLED  UP  HIS  GLASS,  WHICH  HE  HAD  NOT 
emptied" 

"There  was   a   slight   touch   of  color   visible   on   the 

GRACIOUS    forehead  WHEN    SHE    OFFERED    HIM  HER  HAND  " 

"And  when  she  stooped  to  gather   some  hyacinths  and 

anemones  he  merely  waited  for  her  " 

"He  uttered  a  loud   shriek,  and   struggled  wildly  to 

KAISE   himself" 

"She  threw  herself  on  her  knees  by  the  bedside  and 
seized  his  hand" 

"Maurice  walked  back  until  he  found  a  gate,  enterkd, 
and  went  forward  and  overtook  her " 

"'I    HAVE    AN    EXTPJ:MELY    IMPORTANT    LETTER   TO    SEND    OFF '  " 


'9  P- 


252 

264 

292 

310 

322 

346 

364 

394 

400 

420 
430 


PRINCE  FORTUNATUS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

A     REHEARSAL. 


When  tte  curtain  fell  on  the  last  act  of  "  The  Squire's  Daug^h- 
ter,"  the  comedy-opera  that  had  taken  all  musical  London  by 
storm,  a  tall  and  elegant  young  English  matron  and  her  still 
taller  brother  rose  from  their  places  in  the  private  box  they  had 
been  occupying,  and  made  read}^  to  depart ;  and  he  had  just 
assisted  her  to  put  on  her  long-skirted  coat  of  rose-red  plush 
when  an  attendant  made  his  appearance. 

"  Mr.  Moore's  compliments,  your  ladyship,  and  will  you  please 
to  step  this  way  ?" 

The  box  was  close  to  the  stage.  Lady  Adela  Cunyngham 
and  her  brother.  Lord  Rockrainster,  followed  their  guide  through 
a  narrow  little  door,  and  almost  at  once  found  themselves  in  the 
wings,  amid  the  usual  motley  crowd  of  gas-men,  scene-shifters, 
dressers,  and  the  like.  But  the  company  were  still  fronting  the 
footlights ;  for  there  had  been  a  general  recall,  and  the  curtain 
had  gone  up  again ;  and  probably,  during  this  brief  second  of 
scrutiny,  it  may  have  seemed  odd  to  these  two  strangers  to  find 
themselves  looking,  not  at  rows  of  smiling  faces  on  the  stage, 
but  at  the  backs  of  the  heads  of  the  performers.  However,  the 
curtain  once  more  came  down  ;  the  great  wedding-party  in  the 
squire's  hall  grew  suddenly  quite  business-like  and  went  their 
several  ways  as  if  they  had  no  longer  any  concern  with  one  anoth- 
er ;  and  then  it  was  that  the  squire's  daughter  herself — a  pi- 
quant little  person  she  was,  in  a  magnificent  costume  of  richly 
flowered  white  satin,  and  with  a  portentous  head-gear  of  pow- 
dered hair  and  brilliants  and  strings  of  pearls — was  brouiiht 
forward  bv  a  handsome  young  ofcntloman  who  wore  a  tied  wig, 
1*      ' 


6  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

a  laced  coat  and  ruflBes,  satin  knee-breeches,  shining  silken  stock- 
ings, and  silver-buckled  shoes. 

"  Lady  Adela,"  said  he, "  let  me  introduce  you  to  Miss  Bur- 
goyne.  Miss  Burgoyne  has  been  kind  enough  to  say  she  will 
take  you  into  her  room  for  a  little  while,  until  I  get  off  my  war- 
paint.    I  sha'n't  keep  you  more  than  a  few  minutes." 

"  It  is  very  good  of  you,"  said  the  tall  young  matron  in  the 
crimson  coat  to  this  gorgeous  little  white  bride,  whose  lips  were 
brilliant  with  cherry-paste,  and  whose  bright  and  frank  eyes 
were  surrounded  by  such  a  mighty  mass  of  make-up. 

"  Not  at  all,"  she  answered,  pleasantly  enough,  and  therewith 
she  led  the  way  down  some  steps  into  a  long,  white-tiled  corri- 
dor, from  which  branched  the  various  dressing-rooms.  "  I'm 
afraid  I  can't  give  you  any  tea  now  ;  but  there's  some  lemonade, 
of  my  own  making — it  has  become  very  popular  in  the  theatre 
— you  would  hardly  believe  the  number  of  callers  I  have  of  an 
evening." 

By  this  time  Lionel  Moore,  who  was  responsible  for  these 
strangers  being  in  the  theatre,  had  gone  quickly  off  to  his  own 
dressing-room  to  change  his  attire,  so  that  when  the  two  ladies 
reached  a  certain  half-open  door  where  the  prima-donna's  maid 
was  waiting  for  her,  Lord  Rockrainster  naturally  hung  back  and 
would  have  remained  without.  Miss  Burgoyne  instantly  turned 
to  him. 

"  Oh,  but  you  may  come  in  too !"  she  said,  with  great  com- 
plaisance. 

Somewhat  timorously  he  followed  these  two  into  a  prettily 
furnished  little  sitting-room,  where  he  was  bidden  to  take  a  seat 
and  regale  himself  with  lemonade,  if  he  was  so  minded ;  and 
then  Miss  Burgoyne  drew  aside  the  curtain  of  an  inner  apart- 
ment, and  said  to  her  other  guest : 

'■'^You  may  come  in  here,  if  you  like.  Mr.  Moore  said  you 
wished  to  know  about  stage  make-up  and  that  kind  of  thing — I 
will  show  you  all  the  dreadful  secrets — Jane  !"  Thereupon 
these  tlirec  disappeared  behind  the  curtain,  and  Lord  Rock- 
minster  was  left  alone. 

But  Lord  Rockniinstcr  liked  being  left  alone,  lie  was  a  great 
thinker,  who  rarely  revealed  his  thoughts,  but  who  was  quite 
happy  in  possessing  them.  lie  could  sit  for  an  hour  at  a  club- 
window,  calmly  gazing  out  into  the  street,  and  be  perfectly  con- 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  7 

tent.  It  is  true  that  the  pale  tobacco-tinge  that  overspread  the 
young  man's  fair  complexion  seemed  to  speak  of  an  out-of-door 
life  ;  but  he  had  long  ago  emancipated  himself  from  the  tyranny 
of  field-sports.  That  thraldom  had  begun  early  with  him,  as 
with  most  of  his  class.  He  had  hardly  been  out  of  his  Eton 
jacket  when  gillies  and  water-bailiffs  got  hold  of  him,  and  made 
him  thrash  salmon-pools  with  a  seventeen-foot  rod  until  his  back 
was  breaking ;  and  then  keepers  and  foresters  had  taken  pos- 
session of  him,  and  compelled  him  to  crawl  for  miles  up  wet 
gullies  and  across  peat-hags,  and  then  put  a  rifle  in  his  hand, 
expecting  him  to  hit  a  bewildering  object  on  the  other  side  of 
a  corrie  when,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  his  heart  was  like  to  burst 
with  excitement  and  fear.  But  the  young  man  had  some 
strength  of  character.  He  rebelled ;  he  refused  to  be  driven 
like  a  slave  any  longer;  he  struck  for  freedom  and  won  it. 
There  was  still  much  travelling  to  be  encountered  ;  but  when  he 
had  got  that  over,  when  he  had  seen  everything  and  done  every- 
thing, and  there  was  nothing  more  to  do  or  to  see,  then  he  became 
master  of  himself  and  conducted  himself  accordingly.  Con- 
templation, accompanied  by  a  cigarette,  was  now  his  chief  good. 
What  his  meditations  were  no  one  knew,  but  they  sufficed  unto 
himself.  He  had  attained  Nirvana.  He  lived  in  a  region  of 
perpetual  thought. 

But  there  was  one  active  quality  that  Lord  Rockminster  cer- 
tainly did  possess :  he  was  a  most  devoted  brother,  as  all  the 
town  knew.  He  was  never  tired  of  going  about  with  his  three 
beautiful  sisters,  or  with  any  one  of  them ;  he  would  fetch  and 
carry  for  them  with  the  most  amiable  assiduity ;  "  Rock  "  they 
called  him,  as  if  he  were  a  retriever.  Then  the  fact  that  they 
followed  very  different  pursuits  made  all  the  greater  demand  on 
his  consideration.  His  youngest  sister,  Lady  Rosamund  Bourne, 
painted  indefatigably  in  both  water  and  oils,  and  had  more  than 
once  exhibited  in  Suffolk  Street ;  Lady  Sybil  devoted  herself  to 
music,  and  was  a  well-known  figure  at  charitable  concerts  ;  while 
the  eldest  sister.  Lady  Adela,  considered  literature  and  the  drama 
as  more  particularly  under  her  protection,  nor  had  she  ceased  to 
interest  herself  in  these  graceful  arts  when  she  married  Sir 
Hugh  Cunyngham,  of  the  Braes,  that  famous  breeder  of  polled 
cattle.  The  natural  consequence  of  all  this  was  that  Lord  Rock- 
minster found  himself  called  to  a  never-ending  series  of  concerts, 


8  PRINCE    F0RTUNATU3. 

theatres,  private  views,  and  the  like,  and  always  with  one  or 
other  of  his  beautiful,  tall  sisters  as  his  companion ;  while  on  a 
certain  occasion  (for  it  was  whispered  that  Lady  Adela  Cunyng- 
ham  was  engaged  in  the  composition  of  a  novel,  and  her  broth- 
er was  the  soul  of  good-nature)  he  had  even  gone  the  length  of 
asking  a  publisher  to  dine  at  his  club.  And  here  he  was  seated 
in  an  actress's  room,  alone,  while  his  sister  was  inspecting  pow- 
der-pufEs,  washes,  patches,  and  paste  jewelry  ;  and  not  only  that, 
but  they  were  about  to  take  an  actor  home  to  supper  with  them. 
What  he  thought  about  it  all  he  never  said,  lie  sat  and  stroked 
his  small  yellow  moustache  ;  his  eyes  was  absent ;  and  on  his 
handsome,  almost  Greek,  features  there  dwelt  a  perfect  and  con- 
tinuous calm. 

Presently  the  door  was  opened,  and  the  smart-looking  young- 
baritone  who  had  stolen  away  the  hearts  of  half  the  women  in 
London  made  his  appearance.  He  was  a  young  fellow  of  about 
eight-and-twenty,  pleasant-featured,  his  complexion  almost  color- 
less, his  eyes  gray  with  dark  lashes,  his  eyebrows  also  dark.  In 
figure  he  was  slight  and  wiry  rather  than  muscular ;  but  where 
he  gave  evidence  of  strength  was  in  his  magnificent  throat  and 
in  the  set  of  his  head  and  shoulders.  It  may  be  added  that  he 
possessed,  what  few  stage-singers  appear  to  possess,  a  remark- 
ably well-formed  leg — a  firm-knit  calf  tapering  to  a  small  ankle 
and  a  shapely  foot ;  but,  as  he  had  now  doffed  his  professional 
silken  stockings  and  silver-buckled  shoes  for  ordinary  evening 
wear,  his  merits  in  this  respect  were  mostly  concealed. 

No  sooner  had  he  begun  to  talk  to  Lord  Rockminster  than 
the  sound  of  his  voice  summoned  forth  from  the  inner  apart- 
ment Lady  Adela,  who,  with  many  expressions  of  thanks,  bade 
good-night  to  the  prima-douna,  and  put  herself  under  charge  of 
the  young  baritone. 

"  My  sisters  arc  at  the  Mellords'  to-night,"  said  she,  as  she 
accompanied  him  along  the  corridor  and  up  the  steps  and 
through  the  now  almost  deserted  wings.  "  They  were  dining 
there,  and  we  left  them  as  we  came  to  the  theatre,  and  promised 
to  pick  them  up  on  our  way  home.  There  will  be  a  bit  of  a 
crush,  I  suppose ;  you  won't  mind  coming  in  for  a  few  min- 
utes, will  you,  Mr.  Moore  ?" 

"  I  don't  know  Mrs.  Mellord,"  said  he,  with  becoming  modesty. 

"But  everybody  knows  you — that  is  the  great  i)oint,"  said 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  9 

this  tall  young  Englishwoman,  who  looked  very  gracious  and 
charming,  and  who,  when  she  turned  to  talk  to  her  companion, 
had  a  quick,  responsive  smile  ever  ready  in  her  clear,  intelligent, 
gray-hlue  eyes.  "  Oh,  yes,  you  must  come.  It  is  one  of  the 
prettiest  houses  in  London ;  and  Mrs.  Mellord  is  one  of  the 
nicest  women.  We  will  get  Sybil  and  Rose  away  as  soon  as 
we  can  ;  and  I  shouldn't  at  all  wonder  if  we  found  Georgie 
Lestrange  and  her  brother  there  too.  Oh,  almost  certain,  I 
should  say.  Then  we  could  carry  them  off  to  supper,  and  after 
that  Pastora  might  try  over  her  duet  with  Damon.  But  as  re- 
gards the  Mellords,  Mr.  Moore,"  said  she,  with  a  pleasant  smile, 
as  he  handed  her  into  her  brougham,  which  had  been  brought 
round  to  the  stage-door,  "  I  shall  consider  you  to  be  under  my 
protection,  and  I  will  take  care  no  one  shall  ask  you  to  sing." 

"  But  you  know,  Lady  x\dela,  I  am  always  delighted  to  sing 
for  any  friend  of  yours,"  said  he,  promptly  enough ;  and  then, 
when  he  and  Lord  Rockminster  had  entered  the  carriage,  and 
the  footman  had  shut  the  door  and  got  on  the  box,  away  they 
drove  through  the  busy  midnight  world  of  London. 

It  did  not  take  them  long  to  get  from  the  New  Theatre  to 
the  house  of  the  famous  Academician  ;  and  here,  late  as  it  was, 
they  found  plenty  of  people  still  arriving,  a  small  crowd  of  on- 
lookers scanning  the  various  groups  as  they  crossed  the  pave- 
ment. On  this  hot  night  in  May,  it  seemed  pleasantly  cool  to 
get  into  the  great  hall  of  white  and  black  marble,  where  the 
miniature  lake,  on  which  floated  an  alabaster  swan,  was  all 
banked  round  with  flowers  ;  and  when  Lady  Adela  had  dispos- 
sessed herself  of  her  long  plush  coat,  it  was  evident  she  had 
dressed  for  the  reception  before  going  to  the  theatre,  for  now 
she  appeared  in  a  costume  of  silver-gray  satin  with  a  very  consider- 
able train,  while  there  were  diamond  stars  in  her  light  brown 
hair,  and  at  her  bosom  a  bunch  of  deep  crimson  roses.  At  the 
head  of  the  stairs  they  encountered  Mrs.  Mellord,  who  received 
the  famous  young  baritone  with  the  most  marked  kindness. 
Indeed,  he  seemed  to  be  known  to  a  considerable  number  of  the 
people  who  were  assembled  in  these  spacious  rooms  of  white 
and  gold  ;  while  those  who  were  not  personally  acquainted  with 
him  easily  recognized  him,  for  were  not  his  photographs  in  every 
stationer's  window  in  London  ?  The  Ladies  Sybil  and  Rosamund 
Bourne  they  found  in  the  studio,  talking  to  the  great  Academi- 


10  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

cian  himself.  These  two  young  ladies  were  even  taller,  as  they 
likewise  were  fairer  in  complexion,  than  their  married  sister; 
moreover,  they  were  much  more  dignified  in  demeanor  than  she 
was,  though  that  may  have  merely  arisen  from  maidenly  reserve. 
But  when  Mr.  Mellord  exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy  his 
much-talked-of  picture  of  the  three  sisters,  most  people  seemed 
to  think  that  though  the  two  younger  ladies  might  have  carried 
ojBf  the  palm  for  their  handsome,  pale,  regularly  cut  features  and 
their  calm,  observant  eyes,  there  was  something  in  the  bright, 
vivacious  look  of  the  eldest  that  outweighed  these  advantages ; 
while  in  society,  and  especially  as  a  hostess  in  her  own  house,  the 
charm  of  Lady  Adela's  manner,  and  her  quick,  sympathetic,  en- 
gaging ways  made  her  a  universal  favorite.  And  one  was  tempt- 
ed, in  amazement,  to  ask  how  it  came  about  that  a  woman  so  alert 
and  intelligent,  so  conversant  with  the  world,  so  ready  to  note 
the  ridiculous  side  of  things,  could  not  understand  what  a  poor 
and  lamentable  figure  she  made  as  an  amateur  authoress  ?  But 
had  the  Lady  Sybil  any  less  confidence  in  her  musical  attain- 
ments, when  she  would  undertake  to  play  a  duet  with  one  of 
the  most  distinguished  of  professional  musicians,  she  on  the 
violin,  he  at  the  piano  ?  And  here,  at  this  very  moment,  was 
Lady  Rosamund  talking  to  by  far  and  away  the  greatest  painter 
in  England,  and  there  was  a  picture  before  them  on  an  easel, 
and  she  was  saying  to  him,  with  perfect  coolness, 

"  Why,  I  see  you  use  cadmium  yellow,  Mr.  Mellord !  I  never  do." 

Somehow  an  impression  got  abroad  through  these  brilliant 
rooms  that  Mr.  Moore  was  going  to  sing ;  and  at  length  Mrs. 
Mellord  came  to  the  young  man  and  frankly  preferred  her  re- 
quest. 

"  Oh,  yes,"  said  he,  most  good-naturedly. 

"  The  serenade  ?"  she  ventured  to  hint. 

*'  Oh,  not  the  serenade  !"  said  he,  with  a  laugh.  "  Every  butch- 
er's boy  in  the  streets  whistles  it." 

*'  All  England  is  singing  it — and  a  good  thing,  too,"  she  made 
answer  ;  and  then  she  said,  with  some  emphasis  :  *'  I  am  sure  no 
one  rejoices  more  than  myself  at  the  great  popularity  of  'The 
Squire's  Daughter.'  I  am  very  glad  to  see  that  a  comedy-opera 
may  be  based  on  the  best  traditions  of  English  music ;  and  I 
liope  we  shall  have  a  great  deal  less  of  the  Offenbach  tinkle- 
tankle." 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  H 

"  The  serenade,  if  you  like,  then,"  said  he,  with  careless  good- 
humor  ;  what  did  it  matter  to  him  ? 

"  And  whom  shall  I  get  to  play  an  accompaniment  for  you  ?" 

"  Oh,  you  needn't  trouble  ;  I  can  do  that  for  myself — " 

"  But  you  must  make  one  young  lady  supremely  happy,"  said 
she,  with  insidious  flattery. 

He  glanced  round  the  studio. 

"  I  see  Miss  Lestrauge  over  there — she  has  played  it  for  me 
before — without  the  music,  I  mean." 

"  Then  I'll  go  and  fetch  her,"  said  the  indefatigable  hostess ; 
and  now  everybody  seemed  to  know  that  Mr.  Lionel  Moore  was 
about  to  sing  "  The  Starry  Night." 

Miss  Georgie  Lestrange  was  no  sooner  appealed  to  than  she 
came  through  the  crowd,  smiling  and  laughing.  She  was  an 
exceedingly  pretty  lass,  with  fresh-complexioned  cheeks,  a  pert 
and  attractive  nose,  a  winsome  mouth,  and  merry  blue  eyes  that 
were  hardly  made  grave  by  the  jnnce-nez  that  she  habitually  wore. 
She  was  very  prettily  dressed,  too — in  blue-and-silver  brocade, 
with  a  high  Medici  collar  of  silver  lace,  puffed  sleeves  with 
twisted  cords  of  silver,  and  silver  fillets  binding  the  abundant 
masses  of  her  ruddy-golden  hair.  She  sat  down  at  the  piano, 
and  the  first  notes  of  the  accompaniment  deepened  the  silence 
that  now  prevailed,  not  only  in  this  big  studio,  but  throughout 
the  communicating  rooms. 

Probably  there  was  not  a  human  being  in  the  place  who  had 
not  heard  this  serenade  sung  a  dozen  times  over,  for  it  was  the 
most  popular  air  of  the  most  popular  piece  then  being  played  in 
Loudon ;  but  there  was  some  kind  of  novelty  in  listening  to  the 
same  notes  that  had  thrilled  through  the  theatre  (rather,  that 
had  sent  their  passionate  appeal  up  to  a  certain  mysterious  bal- 
cony, in  the  dim  moonlight  of  the  stage)  now  pulsating  through 
the  hushed  silence  of  these  modern  rooms.  Lionel  Moore  was 
not  a  baritone  of  altogether  rare  and  exceptional  gifts,  otherwise 
he  might  hardly  have  been  content  with  even  the  popularity  and 
the  substantial  rewards  of  comic  opera ;  but  he  had  a  very  ex- 
cellent voice  for  all  that,  of  high  range,  and  with  a  resonant  and 
finely  sympathetic  timbre  that  seemed  easily  to  find  its  way  (ac- 
cording to  all  accounts)  to  the  feminine  heart.  And  the  music 
of  this  serenade  was  really  admirable,  of  subtle  and  delicate  qual- 
ity, and  yet  full  of  the  simplest  melody,  and  perhaps  none  the 


13  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

less  to  be  appreciated  that  it  seemed  to  suggest  a  careful  study 
of  the  best  English  composers.  The  words  were  conventional 
enough,  of  course ;  but  then  the  whole  story  of  "  The  Squire's 
Daughter  "  was  as  artificial  as  the  wigs  and  powder  and  patches 
of  the  performers  ;  and  even  now,  when  Harry  Thornhill,  bereft 
of  all  his  gay  silk  and  lace  and  ruffles,  and  become  plain  Mr. 
Lionel  Moore,  in  ordinary  evening  dress,  sang  to  Miss  Georgie 
Lestrange's  accompaniment,  the  crowd  did  not  think  of  the 
words — they  were  entranced  by  the  music.  "  The  starry  night" 
— this  is  how  Harry  Thornhill,  in  the  opera,  addresses  Grace 
Mainwaring,  he  standing  in  the  moonlit  garden  and  looking  up 
to  her  window — 

"  The  starry  night  brings  me  no  rest ; 
My  ardent  love  now  stands  confessed; 
Appear,  my  sweet,  and  shame  the  skies, 
That  have  no  splendor, 
That  have  no  splendor  like  thine  eyes !" 

The  serenade  was  followed  by  a  general  murmur  of  approbation, 
rather  than  by  any  loud  applause  ;  but  the  pretty  Mrs.  Mellord 
came  up  to  the  singer  and  was  most  profuse  of  thanks.  Pru- 
dently, however,  he  moved  away  from  the  piano,  being  accom- 
panied by  Miss  Georgie  Lestrange,  who  seemed  rather  pleased 
with  the  prominence  this  position  gave  her ;  and  very  soon  a 
surreptitious  message  reached  them  both  that  they  were  wanted 
below.  When  they  went  down  into  the  hall  they  found  that 
Lady  Adela  had  got  her  party  collected,  including  Miss  Lestrange's 
brother  Percy  ;  thereupon  the  four  ladies  got  into  the  brougham 
and  drove  off,  while  the  three  gentlemen  proposed  to  follow  on 
foot,  and  have  a  cigarette  the  while.  It  was  a  pleasantly  warm 
night,  and  they  had  no  farther  to  go  than  Sir  Hugh  Cunyng- 
ham's  house,  which  is  one  of  the  large  garden-surrounded  man- 
sions on  the  summit  of  Campden  Hill. 

When  at  length  they  arrived  there  and  had  entered  by  the 
wooden  gate,  the  semicircular  carriage-drive,  lit  by  two  soli- 
tary lamps,  and  the  front  of  the  house  itself,  half-hidden  among 
the  black  trees,  seemed  somewhat  sombre  and  repellent  at  this 
silent  hour  of  the  morning ;  but  they  found  a  more  cheerful  ra- 
diance streaming  out  from  the  hall-door,  which  had  been  left 
open  for  them  ;  and  wbcn  they  went  into  the  large  dining-room, 
where  the  ladies  had  already  assembled,  there  was  no  lack  of 


PKINCE    FORTUNATUS.  13 

either  light  or  color  there,  for  all  the  candles  were  ablaze,  and 
the  long  table  was  brilliant  with  silver  and  Venetian  glass  and 
flowers.  And,  indeed,  this  proved  to  be  a  very  merry  and  talk- 
ative supper-party ;  for,  as  soon  as  supper  was  served,  the  ser- 
vants were  sent  off  to  bed ;  Lord  Rockminster  constituted  him- 
self butler,  and  Percy  Lestrange  handed  round  the  pheasants' 
eggs  and  asparagus  and  such  things ;  so  that  there  was  no  alien 
ear  in  the  room.  Lionel  Moore,  being  less  familiar  with  the 
house,  was  exempted  from  these  duties;  in  truth,  it  was  rather 
the  women-folk  who  waited  upon  him — and  petted  him  as  he 
was  used  to  be  petted,  wherever  that  fortunate  young  man  hap- 
pened to  go. 

However,  it  was  not  supper  that  was  chiefly  occupying  the 
attention  of  this  band  of  eager  chatterers  (from  whom  the  silent 
Lord  Rockminster,  walking  gravely  round  the  table  with  a  large 
jug  of  champagne-cup  in  his  hand,  must  honorably  be  distin- 
guished), it  was  the  contemplated  production  of  a  little  musical 
entertainment  called  "  The  Chaplet,"  by  Dr.  Boyce,  which  they 
were  about  to  attempt,  out-of-doors,  on  some  afternoon  still  to  be 
fixed,  and  before  a  select  concourse  of  friends.  And  the  most 
vivacious  of  the  talkers  Avas  the  red-headed  and  merry -eyed  young 
maiden  in  blue  silver  and  brocade,  who  seemed  incapable  of  keep- 
ing her  rosebud  of  a  mouth  closed  for  more  than  a  minute  at  a 
time. 

"  I  do  think  it's  awfully  hard  on  me,"  she  was  protesting. 
"  Look  how  I'm  handicapped  !  Everybody  knows  that  Pastora 
was  played  by  Kitty  Clive ;  and  everybody  will  say,  '  That  Le- 
strange girl  has  cheek,  hasn't  she  ?  thinks  she  can  play  Kitty 
Olive's  parts !'  And  you  know  Pastora  is  always  calling  atten- 
tion to  her  fascinating  appearance." 

"  Georgie,  you're  fishing  for  compliments  !"  the  young  matron 
said,  severely. 

"  No,  I'm  not,  Adela,"  said  Miss  Lestrange,  who,  indeed, 
looked  as  charming  as  any  Kitty  Clive  could  ever  have  done. 
"  Then  there's  another  thing :  fancy  my  having  to  sing  a  duet 
with  Mr.  Moore !  It's  all  very  well  for  you  to  sing  a  song  off 
your  own  bat — " 

"  That  loould  be  diflBcult,  Georgie,"  Lady  Adela  observed. 

"  Oh,  you  know  what  I  mean.  But  when  you  come  to  sing  in 
conjunction  with  an  artist  like  Mr.  Moore,  what  then  ?     They  will 


14  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

say  it  is  mere  presumption,  when  my  little  squeak  of  a  voice 
gets  drowned  altogether." 

"  If  you  give  any  weight  to  a  professional  opinion,  Miss  Le- 
strange,"  the  young  baritone  said,  "  I  can  assure  you  you  sing 
your  part  in  that  duet — or  in  anything  else  I've  heard  you  sing — 
very  well  indeed.     Very  well  indeed." 

"  Ah,  now  Georgie's  happy,"  said  Lady  Adela,  with  a  laugh, 
as  the  blushing  damsel  cast  down  her  eyes.  ''  Well,  I  propose 
that  we  all  go  into  the  drawing-room,  and  we'll  hear  for  our- 
selves how  Pastora  and  Damon  sing  together.  You  may  make 
as  much  noise  as  ever  you  like ;  the  children  are  in  Hampshire ; 
Hugh  is  in  Scotland ;  the  servants  are  out  of  hearing ;  and  our 
neighbors  are  a  long  way  off." 

This  suggestion,  coming  from  the  lady  of  the  house,  was  of 
the  nature  of  a  command,  and  so  they  leisurely  trooped  into  the 
great  drawing-room,  where  the  candles  were  still  burning.  But 
there  was  something  else  than  these  artificial  lights  that  attract- 
ed the  sharp  eyes  of  Miss  Georgie  Lestrange  the  moment  she 
entered  this  new  apartment.  There  was  a  curious,  wan  kind  of 
color  about  the  curtains  and  the  French  windows  that  did  not 
seem  natural  to  the  room.  She  walked  quickly  forward,  drew 
the  lace  hangings  aside,  and  then,  suddenly,  she  exclaimed, 

"  Why,  it's  almost  daylight !  Look  here,  Adela,  why  shouldn't 
we  have  a  rehearsal  of  the  whole  piece,  from  end  to  end — a  real 
rehearsal,  this  time,  on  the  lawn  ?  and  Rose  can  tell  us  all  how 
we  are  to  stand,  and  Mr.  Moore  will  show  us  what  we  should  do 
besides  merely  speaking  the  lines." 

This  bold  proposal  was  greeted  with  general  acclaim,  and  in- 
stantly there  was  a  bustle  of  preparation.  Lady  Sybil  began  to 
tune  her  violin  by  the  side  of  the  open  piano  ;  Lady  Rosamund, 
who  was  at  once  scene-painter  and  stage-manager,  as  it  were,  got 
out  some  sheets  of  drawing-paper,  on  which  she  had  sketched  the 
various  groups ;  and  Lady  Adela  brought  forth  the  MS.  books 
of  the  play,  which  had  been  prepared  under  the  careful  (and 
necessary)  supervision  of  Lionel  Moore. 

"  Rockminster  will  have  to  figure  as  the  audience,"  his  eldest 
sister  said,  as  she  was  looping  up  her  long  train  of  silver-gray 
satin  preparatory  to  going  out. 

"  That  is  a  part  /  could  play  to  perfection,"  put  in  Miss  Le- 
strangc's  brother. 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  15 

"  Oh,  no,"  Lady  Adela  remonstrated.  "  You  may  be  wanted 
for  Pala3mon.  Yon  sec,  tliis  is  how  it  stands.  The  young  sliop- 
herd  was  originally  played  at  Drury  Lane  by  a  boy — and  in  Dub- 
lin by  an  actress ;  it  is  a  boy's  part,  indeed.  Well,  you  know, 
we  thought  Cis  Yorke  would  snap  at  it ;  and  she  was  eager  enough 
at  first ;  but " — and  here  Lady  Adela  smiled  demurely — "  I  think 
her  courage  gave  way.  The  boy's  dress  looked  charming  as  Rose 
sketched  it  for  her — and  the  long  cloak  made  it  quite  proper,  you 
know — and  very  picturesque,  too — but — but  I  think  she's  fright- 
ened. We  can't  count  on  her.  So  we  may  have  to  call  on  you 
for  Palsemon,  Mr.  Lestrange." 

"  And  I  have  taken  the  liberty  of  cutting  out  the  song,  for  it's 
rather  stupid,"  said  Lionel  Moore,  "  so  you've  only  got  a  few 
lines  to  repeat." 

"  The  fewer  the  better,"  replied  Mr.  Percy  Lestrange,  who  was 
possibly  right  in  considering  that,  with  his  far-from-regular 
features  and  his  red  hair  and  moustache,  his  appearance  as  a 
handsome  young  swain  should  not  have  too  much  prominence 
given  it. 

Notwithstandincr  that  it  had  been  Miss  Lestranafe's  audacious 
proposal  that  they  should  go  masquerading  in  the  open  air,  she 
was  a  wise  young  virgin,  and  she  took  care  before  going  out  to 
thrust  a  soft  silk  handkerchief  into  the  square  opening  of  her 
dress  ;  the  Ladies  Sybil  and  Rosamund  followed  her  example  by 
drawing  lace  scarfs  round  their  necks  and  shoulders ;  it  was  the 
young  matron  who  was  reprehensibly  careless,  and  who,  when 
the  French  windows  were  thrown  open,  went  forth  boldly,  and 
without  any  wrap  at  all,  into  the  cool  air  of  the  dawn.  But  for 
a  second,  as  they  stood  on  the  little  stone  balcony  above  the 
steps  leading  down  to  the  garden,  this  group  of  revellers  were 
struck  silent.  The  world  looked  so  strange  around  them.  In 
the  mysterious  gray  light,  that  had  no  sort  of  kindly  warmth  in 
it,  the  grass  of  the  lawn  and  the  surrounding  trees  seemed 
coldly  and  intensely  green ;  and  cold  and  intense,  with  no  rich- 
ness of  hue  at  all,  were  the  colors  of  the  flowers  in  the  various 
plots  and  beds.  Not  a  bird  chirped  as  yet.  Not  a  leaf  stirred. 
But  in  this  ghostly  twilight  the  solitary  gas  lamps  were  be- 
ginning to  show  pale ;  and  in  the  southern  heavens  the  silver 
sickle  of  the  moon,  stealing  over  to  the  west,  seemed  to  be  taking 
the  night  with  it,  and  leaving  these  faintly  lilac  skies  to  welcome 
the  uprising  of  the  new  day. 


16  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

At  first,  indeed,  there  was  sometliing  curiously  uncanny — 
something  unearthly  and  phantasmal  almost — in  the  spectacle 
of  these  figures,  the  women  in  white,  the  men  in  black,  moving 
through  this  wan  light;  and  their  voices  sounded  strangely  in 
the  dead  silence  ;  but  ere  long  a  soft  saffron  tinge  began  to  show 
itself  in  the  east ;  one  or  two  scraps  of  cloud  in  the  violet  skies 
caught  a  faint  touch  of  the  coming  dawn ;  there  was  a  more 
generous  tone  on  the  masses  of  foliage,  on  the  flower-beds,  and 
on  the  grass ;  and  now  the  cheerful  chirping  of  the  birds  had 
begun  among  the  leaves.  And  what  more  beautiful  surround- 
ings could  have  been  imagined  for  the  production  of  any  pastoral 
entertainment  ?  The  wide  lawn  was  bounded  on  one  side  by  a 
dense  thicket  of  elms  and  limes  and  chestnuts,  and  on  the  other 
by  a  tall,  dark  hedge  of  holly  ;  while  here  and  there  was  a  weep- 
ing-willow, round  the  stem  of  which  a  circular  seat  had  been  con- 
structed, the  pendulous  branches  enclosing  a  sort  of  rustic  bower. 
As  this  fantastic  performance  went  forward,  the  skies  overhead 
slowly  became  more  luminous  ;  there  was  a  sense  of  warmth  and 
clear  daylight  beginning  to  tell ;  the  birds  were  singing  and 
chattering  and  calling  everywhere ;  and  the  sweet,  pure  air  of 
the  morning,  as  it  stirred,  and  no  more  than  stirred,  the  trembling 
leaves,  brought  with  it  a  scent  of  mignonette  that  seemed  to  speak 
of  the  coming  of  June. 

Laura,  in  the  person  of  Lady  Adela  Cunyngham,  had  re- 
proached the  faithless  Damon  (who  was  no  other  than  Mr. 
Lionel  Moore) — 

"  Ungrateful  Damon,  is  it  come  to  this  ? 
Are  these  the  happy  scenes  of  promis'd  bliss  ? 
Ne'er  hope,  vain  Laura,  future  peace  to  prove; 
Content  ne'er  harbors  with  neglected  love." 

— and  Damon  had  replied  (not  mumbling  his  lines,  as  a  privileged 
actor  sometimes  does  at  rehearsal,  but  addressing  them  properly 
to  the  hapless  Laura) — 

"  Consider,  fair,  the  ever-restless  pow'r. 
Shifts  with  the  breeze,  and  changes  with  the  hour: 
Above  restraint,  he  scorns  a  fixt  abode. 
And  on  his  silken  plumes  flies  forth  the  rambling  god." 

Then  Lady  Sybil  took  out  her  violin  from  its  case  and  drew  the 
bow  across  the  strings. 

"  We'll  let  you  off  the  song,  if  you  like,  Mr.  Moore,"  Lady 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  17 

Adela  said  to  the  young  baritone,  but  in  a  very  half-hearted  kind 
of  way. 

"  Oh,  no,"  said  he,  pleasantly,  "  perhaps  this  may  be  my  only 
rehearsal." 

"  The  audience,"  observed  Lord  Rockminster,  who,  at  a  little 
distance,  was  lying  back  in  a  garden-chair,  smoking  a  cigarette 
— "the  audience  would  distinctly  prefer  to  have  the  song  sung." 

Lady  Sybil  again  gave  him  the  key-note  from  the  violin  ;  and, 
without  further  accompaniment,  he  thus  addressed  his  forsaken 
sweetheart : 

"  You  say  at  your  feet  that  I  wept  in  despair, 
And  vow'd  that  no  angel  was  ever  so  fair; 
How  could  you  believe  all  the  nonsense  I  spoke? 
What  know  we  of  angels  ?  I  meant  it  in  joke, 

I  meant  it  in  joke ; 
What  know  we  of  angels  ?  I  meant  it  in  joke." 

When,  in  his  rich,  vibrating  notes,  he  had  sung  the  two  verses, 
all  the  ladies  rewarded  him  by  clapping  their  hands,  which  was 
an  exceedingly  wrong  thing  to  do,  considering  that  they  formed 
no  part  of  the  audience.     Then  Damon  says, 

"To-day  Demaetus  gives  a  rural  treat, 
And  I  once  more  my  chosen  friends  must  meet: 
Farewell,  sweet  damsel,  and  remember  this, 
Dull  repetition  deadens  all  our  bliss." 

And  Laura  sadly  answers, 

"  Where  baleful  cypress  forms  a  gloomy  shade, 
And  yelling  spectres  haunt  the  dreary  glade, 
Unknown  to  all,  my  lonesome  steps  I'll  bend, 
There  weep  my  suff'rings,  and  my  fate  attend." 

Here  Laura  ought  to  sing  the  song  "  Vain  is  every  fond  en- 
deavor ;"  but  Lady  Adela  said  to  the  violinist, 

"  No,  never  mind,  Syb ;  no  one  wants  to  hear  me  sing,  until 
the  necessity  of  the  case  arises.  Let's  get  on  to  the  feast ;  I 
think  that  will  be  very  popular ;  for  we  must  have  lots  of 
shepherds  and  shepherdesses ;  and  the  people  will  be  delighted 
to  recognize  their  friends.  Where's  your  sketch,  Rose  ?  I 
would  have  groups  round  each  of  the  willows,  and  occasional 
figures  coming  backwards  and  forwards  through  those  rhodo- 
dendrons." 

"  You  must  leave  the  principal  performers  plenty  of  stage," 


18  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

Lionel  Moore  interposed,  laughing.  "  You  mustn't  hem  us  in 
with  supers,  however  picturesque  their  dress  may  be." 

And  so  they  went  on  discussing  their  arrangements,  while  the 
refulgent  day  was  everywhere  declaring  itself,  though  as  yet  no 
sound  of  the  far-off  world  could  reach  this  isolated  garden.  Nor 
was  there  any  direct  sunshine  falling  into  it ;  but  a  beautiful 
warmth  of  color  now  shone  on  the  young  green  of  the  elms  and 
chestnuts  and  hawthorns,  and  on  one  or  two  tall-branching, 
trembling  poplars  just  coming  into  leaf ;  while  the  tulip-beds — 
the  stars,  the  crescents,  the  ovals,  and  squares — were  each  a  mass 
of  brilliant  vermilion,  of  rose,  of  pale  lemon,  of  crimson  and 
orange,  or  clearest  gold.  This  new-found  dawn  seemed  wholly 
to  belong  to  the  birds.  Perhaps  it  was  their  universal  chirping 
and  carolling  that  concealed  the  distant  echo  of  the  highways ; 
for  surely  the  heavily-laden  wains  were  now  making  in  for 
Covent  Garden  ?  At  all  events  there  was  nothing  here  but  this 
continuous  bird-clamor  and  the  voices  of  these  modern  nymphs 
and  swains  as  they  went  this  way  and  that  over  the  velvet-smooth 
lawn. 

And  now  the  bewitching  Pastora  appears  upon  the  scene  (but 
would  Mrs.  Clive  have  worn  a  gold  pince-nez  at  rehearsal  ?)  and 
she  has  just  quarrelled  with  her  lover  Pahemon — 

"  Insulting  boj' !  I'll  tear  him  from  my  mind ; 
Ah  !  would  my  fortune  could  a  husband  find ! 
And  just  in  time,  young  Damon  comes  this  way, 
A  handsome  youth  he  is,  and  rich,  they  say." 

The  butterfly -hearted  Damon  responds  at  once : 

"  Vouchsafe,  sweet  maid,  to  hear  a  wretched  swain, 
Who,  lost  in  wonder,  hugs  the  pleasing  chain  : 
For  you  in  sighs  I  hail  the  rising  day, 
To  you  at  eve  I  sing  the  lovesick  lay  ; 
Then  take  my  love,  my  homage  as  your  due — 
The  Devil's  in  her,  if  all  this  won't  do."  [Aside. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  the  pretty  and  smiling  and  blushing 
Miss  Georgie  Lestrange  looked  just  a  little  self-conscious  as  she 
had  to  listen  to  this  extremely  frank  declaration  ;  but  she  had 
the  part  of  the  coquettish  Pastora  to  play  ;  and  Pastora,  as  soon 
as  she  discovers  that  Damon  has  no  thought  of  marriage,  nat- 
urally declines  to  have  anything  to  do  with  him.  And  here 
came  in  the  duct  which  had  first  suggested  this  escapade : 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  19 

"  Damon.     From  flow'r  to  flow'r,  his  joy  to  change, 

Flits  yonder  wanton  bee ; 
From  fair  to  fair  thus  will  I  range, 

And  I'll  be  ever  free. 
From  fair  to  fair  thus  will  I  range. 

And  I'll  be  ever  free. 

"Pastora.     You  little  birds  attentive  view, 
That  hop  from  tree  to  tree ; 
I'll  copy  them,  I'll  copy  you, 
For  I'll  be  ever  free. 

"  Duetto.     Then  let's  divide  to  east  and  west 
Since  we  shall  ne'er  agree ; 
And  try  who  keeps  their  promise  best 

And  who's  the  longest  free. 
Let's  try  who  keeps  their  promise  best 
And  who's  the  longest  free." 

And  again  the  audience  made  bold  to  clap  their  hands ;  for  Miss 
Georgie  Lestrange,  despite  her  self-depreciation,  sang  very  well 
indeed ;  and  of  course  Lionel  Moore  knew  how  to  moderate  his 
voice,  so  that  the  combination  was  entirely  pleasing.  The  further 
progress  of  the  little  comedy  needs  not  to  be  described  here ;  it 
has  only  to  be  said  that  the  injured  Laura  is  in  the  end  restored 
to  her  repentant  lover ;  and  that  a  final  duet  between  her  and 
Damon  closes  the  piece  with  the  most  praiseworthy  sentiments : 

"  For  their  honor  and  faith  be  our  virgins  renown'd, 
Xor  false  to  his  vows  one  young  shepherd  he  found  ; 
Be  their  moments  all  guided  by  virtue  and  truth, 
To  preserve  in  their  age  what  they  gain'd  in  their  youth. 
To  preserve  in  their  age  what  they  gain'd  in  their  youth." 

Lord  Rockminster  rose  from  his  chair,  stretched  his  long  legs, 
and  threw  away  his  cigarette. 

"  Very  well  done,"  said  he,  slowly.    "  Congratulate  all  of  you." 

"  This  is  the  first  time  I  ever  saw  Rockminster  sit  out  a  morn- 
ing performance,"  observed  Percy  Lestrange,  with  a  playful  grin. 

"  As  for  you  young  things,"  the  mistress  of  the  house  said  to 
her  girl-guests,  as  they  were  all  trooping  in  by  the  French  win- 
dows again,  "  you  must  hurry  home  and  get  in-doors  before  the 
servants  are  up.  I  don't  want  this  frolic  to  be  talked  about  all 
over  the  town." 

"  A  frolic,  indeed !"  Miss  Georgie  protested,  as  her  brother 
was  putting  her  cloak  round  her  shoulders.     "  I  don't  call  it  a 


20  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

frolic  at  all.  I  call  it  very  serious  business ;  and  I'm  looking 
forward  to  winning  tlie  deepest  gratitude  of  the  English  pub- 
lic— or  at  least  as  much  of  the  English  public  as  you  can  cram 
into  your  garden,  my  dear." 

Then,  as  soon  as  the  light  wraps  and  dust-coats  had  been  dis- 
tributed and  donned,  the  members  of  the  gay  little  party  said 
good-bye  to  Lady  Adela  in  the  front  hall,  and  went  down  the 
carriage  sweep  to  the  gate.  Here  there  was  a  division  ;  for  the 
Lestranges  were  going  north  by  Holland  Lane  to  Notting  Hill ; 
while  Lord  Rockminster  and  his  two  sisters,  making  for  Palace 
Gardens  Terrace,  walked  with  Lionel  Moore  only  as  far  as  Camp- 
den  Hill  Road ;  thereafter  he  pursued  his  journey  to  Piccadilly 
alone. 

And  even  now  London  was  not  fully  awake,  though  the  sun 
was  touching  the  topmost  branches  of  the  trees,  and  here  and 
there  a  high  window,  struck  by  the  level  rays,  flashed  back  a 
gleam  of  gold.  In  this  neighborhood  the  thoroughfares  were 
quite  deserted  ;  silence  reigned  over  those  sleeping  houses  ;  the 
air  was  sweet  and  cool ;  now  and  again  a  stirring  of  wind 
brought  a  scent  of  summer -blossom  from  within  the  garden- 
enclosures.  It  is  true  that  when  he  got  down  into  Kensington 
Road  he  found  a  long  procession  of  wagons  slowly  making  their 
way  into  the  great  city ;  but  this  dull,  drowsy  noise  was  not 
ungrateful ;  in  much  content  and  idly  he  walked  away  eastward, 
looking  in  from  time  to  time  at  the  beautiful  greensward  of 
Kensington  Gardens  and  Hyde  Park.  He  was  in  no  hurry. 
He  liked  the  stillness,  the  gracious  coolness  and  quietude  of  the 
morning,  after  the  hot  and  feverish  nights  at  the  theatre.  When 
at  length  he  reached  his  lodging  in  Piccadilly,  let  himself  in 
wdtli  his  latch-key,  and  went  up-stairs  to  his  rooms,  he  did  not 
go  to  bed  at  once.  He  drew  an  easy-chair  to  the  front  window, 
threw  himself  into  it,  lit  a  cigarette,  and  stared  absently  across 
to  the  branching  elms  and  grassy  undulations  of  the  Green  Park. 
Perhaps  he  was  thinking  of  the  pretty,  fantastic  little  comedy 
that  had  just  been  performed  up  in  that  garden  at  Campdcn 
Hill — like  some  dream-picture  out  of  Boccaccio.  And  if  he 
chanced  to  recall  the  fact  that  the  actor  who  originally  played 
the  part  of  Damon,  at  Drury  Lane,  some  hundred  and  forty 
years  ago,  married  in  real  life  an  carl's  daughter,  that  was  but 
a   passing  fancv.     Of   Lnrd   Fareborough's  three  daughters,  it 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  21 

was  neither  Lady  Sybil  nor  Lady  Rosamund,  it  was  tlie  married 
sister,  Lady  Adela  Cunyngham,  who  had  constituted  herself  his 
particular  friend. 


CHAPTER   IL 

THE    GREAT    GOD    PAN. 


Late  as  he  went  to  bed,  sleep  did  not  long  detain  him,  for,  in 
his  own  happy-go-lucky,  troubadour  sort  of  life,  he  was  one  of 
the  most  occupied  of  men  even  in  this  great,  hurrying,  bustling 
capital  of  the  world.  As  soon  as  he  had  donned  his  dressing- 
gown  and  come  into  the  sitting-room,  he  swallowed  a  cup  of 
coffee  that  was  waiting  for  him,  and  then,  to  make  sure  that 
unholy  hours  and  cigarettes  had  not  hurt  his  voice,  he  dabbed 
a  note  on  the  piano,  and  began  to  practise,  in  the  open-throated 
Italian  fashion,  those  vocalises  w^hich  sound  so  strangely  to  the 
uninstructed  ear.  He  rang  for  breakfast.  He  glanced  in  a  de- 
spairing way  at  the  pile  of  letters  and  parcels  awaiting  him,  the 
former,  no  doubt,  mostly  invitations,  the  latter,  as  he  could 
guess,  proofs  of  his  latest  sittings  to  the  photographers,  albums 
and  birth-day  books  sent  for  his  autograph,  music  beseeching 
commendation,  even  manuscript  plays  accompanied  by  pathetic 
appeals  from  unknown  authors.  Then  there  was  a  long  row  of 
potted  scarlet  geraniums  and  large  white  daisies  which  the 
house-porter  had  ranged  by  the  window ;  and  when  he  opened 
the  note  that  had  been  forwarded  with  these  he  found  that  the 
wife  of  a  famous  statesman  had  observed  as  she  drove  along 
Piccadilly  that  the  flowers  in  his  balcony  wanted  renewal  and 
begged  his  acceptance  of  this  graceful  little  tribute.  He  took 
up  a  pair  of  dumb-bells,  and  had  some  exercise  with  them,  to 
keep  his  arms  and  chest  in  good  condition.  He  looked  at  him- 
self in  the  mirror :  no,  he  did  not  seem  to  have  smoked  inordi- 
nately ;  nevertheless,  he  made  sundry  solemn  vows  about  those 
insidious  cigarettes.  Then  he  began  to  open  the  envelopes. 
Here  was  an  imposing  card,  "  To  have  the  honor  of  meeting 

their  royal  highnesses  the  king  and  queen  of ;"  here  was 

a  more  modest  bit  of  pasteboard  with  "  R.  S.  V.  P.  to  mess  presi- 
dent" at  the  lower  corner;  here  were  invitations  to  breakfasts, 
1* 


2a  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

to  luncheons,  to  afternoon  squawks,  to  Sunday  dinners,  to  dances 
and  crushes,  in  short,  to  every  possible  kind  of  diversion  and 
frivolity  that  the  gay  world  of  London  could  devise.  He  went 
steadily  on  with  his  letters.  More  photographers  wanted  him 
to  sit  to  them.  Would  he  accept  the  dedication  of  "  The 
Squire's  Daughter  Fantasia  "  ?  The  composer  of  "  The  Starry 
Night  Valses"  would  like  a  lithographic  portrait  of  Mr.  Lionel 
Moore  to  appear  on  the  cover.  A  humble  admirer  of  Mr.  Lio- 
nel Moore's  great  impersonation  of  Harry  Thornhill  begged 
to  forward  the  enclosed  acrostic,  and  might  he  be  allowed  to 
print  it  in  the  Mudhorough  Young  Meii's  Mutual  Improvement 
Magazine  ?  Messrs.  Smith  &  Smith  would  be  extremely  obliged 
if  Mr.  Lionel  Moore  would  honor  them  with  his  opinion  of  the 
accompanying  pair  of  their  patent  silver -mounted  automatic 
self-adjusting  braces. 

"  If  I  don't  get  a  secretary,"  he  muttered  to  himself,  "  I  shall 
soon  be  in  a  mad-house." 

Nor  did  he  pay  much  attention  to  his  breakfast  when  it  was 
put  on  the  table,  for  there  were  newspapers  to  be  opened  and 
glanced  through — country  journals,  most  of  them,  with  marked 
paragraphs  conveying  the  most  unexpected,  and  even  startling, 
intelligence  regarding  himself,  his  occupations,  and  forthcoming 
engagements.  Then  there  were  the  book  packets  and  the  rolls 
of  music  to  be  examined ;  but  by  this  time  he  had  lit  an  after- 
breakfast  cigarette,  and  was  proceeding  with  something  of  in- 
difference. Occasionally  he  strolled  about  the  room,  or  went 
to  the  window  and  looked  down  into  the  roaring  highway  of 
Piccadilly,  or  across  to  the  sunny  foliage  and  pale-blue  mists 
of  the  Green  Park.  And  then,  in  the  midst  of  his  vague  medi- 
tations, the  following  note  was  brought  to  him  ;  it  had  been 
delivered  by  hand  : 

"  My  dear  Mr.  Moore, — I  do  so  awfuUi/  want  to  Bee  you,  about  a  matter 
of  urgent  importance.  Do  be  good-natured  and  come  and  lunch  witli  us — ■ 
any  time  before  half-past  two,  if  possible.  It  will  be  so  kind  of  you.  I  hope 
the  morning  performance  has  done  you  no  harm. 

Yours,  sincerely,  Adela  Citnyngiiam." 

Well,  luncheon  was  not  much  in  his  way,  for  he  usually  dined 
at  five ;  nevertheless.  Lady  Adela  was  an  especial  friend  of  his 
and  had  been  very  kind  to  him,  and  here  was  some  serious  busi- 
ness.    So  he  hurried  through  what  corrcs])Oudcncc  was  abso- 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  23 

lutoly  necessary  ;  he  sent  word  to  Green's  stables  that  he  should 
not  ride  that  morning ;  he  walked  round  to  a  certain  gymnasium 
and  had  three  quarters  of  an  hour  with  the  fencing-master  (this 
was  an  appointment  which  he  invariably  held  sacred) ;  on  his 
way  back  to  his  rooms  he  called  in  at  Solomon's  for  a  button- 
hole ;  and  then,  having  got  home  and  made  certain  alterations 
in  his  toilet,  he  went  out  again,  jumped  into  a  hansom,  and  was 
driven  up  to  the  top  of  Campden  Hill,  arriving  there  shortly 
after  one  o'clock. 

He  found  Lady  Adela  and  Miss  Georgie  Lestrange  in  the 
drawing-room,  or  rather  just  outside,  on  the  little  balcony  over- 
looking the  garden,  and  neither  of  them  seemed  any  the  worse 
for  that  masquerading  in  the  early  dawn  ;  indeed,  Miss  Georgie's 
naturally  fresh  and  bright  complexion  flushed  a  little  more  than 
usual  when  she  saw  who  this  new-comer  was,  for  perhaps  she 
was  thinking  of  the  very  frank  manner  in  which  Damon  had 
expressed  his  admiration  for  Pastora  but  a  few  short  hours 
ago. 

*'  I  have  been  telling  Georgie  all  about  the  dresses  at  the 
drawing-room,"  said  the  tall  young  matron,  as  she  gave  him  her 
hand  and  regarded  him  with  a  friendly  look ;  "  but  that  won't 
interest  you,  Mr.  Moore.  We  shall  have  to  talk  about  the  new 
beauties,  rather,  to  interest  yoM." 

He  was  a  little  puzzled. 

"  I  thought.  Lady  Adela,  you  said  there  was  something — 
something  of  importance — " 

"  That  depends,"  said  she,  with  a  pleasant  smile  in  her  clear, 
gray-blue  eyes.  "  /  think  it  of  importance  ;  but  it  remains  to 
be  seen  whether  the  world  is  of  the  same  opinion.  Well,  I  won't 
keep  you  in  suspense." 

She  went  to  the  piano,  and  brought  back  three  volumes  plainly 
bound  in  green  cloth. 

"  Behold  !" 

He  took  them  from  her,  and  glanced  at  the  title-page  :  "  Kath- 
leen's Sweethearts,  a  Novel,  by  Lady  Arthur  Castletown,"  was 
what  he  found  there. 

"  So  it  is  out  at  last,"  said  he,  for  he  had  more  than  once 
heard  of  this  great  work  while  it  was  still  in  progress. 

"  Yes,"  said  she,  eagerly,  "  though  it  isn't  issued  to  the  pub- 
lic yet.     The  fact  is,  Mr.  Moore,  I  want  you  to  help  me.     You 


24  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

know  all  about  professional  people,  and  the  newspapers,  and  so 
on — who  better? — and,  of  course,  I'm  very  anxious  about  my 
first  book — my  first  big  book,  that  is — and  I  don't  want  it  to 
get  just  thrown  aside  without  ever  being  glanced  at.  Now,  what 
am  I  to  do  ?  You  may  speak  quite  freely  before  Georgie — she's 
just  as  anxious  as  I  am,  every  bit,  I  believe — only  what  to  do 
we  can't  tell." 

"  All  that  I  can  think  of,"  said  the  ruddy-haired  young  dam- 
sel, with  a  laugh,  "  is  to  have  little  advertisements  printed,  and 
I  will  leave  them  behind  me  wherever  I  go — in  the  stalls  of  a 
theatre,  or  at  a  concert,  or  anywhere.  You  know,  Adela,  you 
can  not  expect  me  to  turn  myself  into  a  sandwich-man,  and  go 
about  the  streets  between  boards." 

"  Georgie,  you're  frivolous,"  said  Lady  Adela,  and  she  again 
turned  to  Lionel  Moore,  who  was  still  holding  the  three  green  vol- 
umes in  his  hands  in  a  helpless  sort  of  fashion.  "  You  know, 
Mr.  Moore,  there  are  such  a  lot  of  books  published  nowadays 
— crowds  ! — shoals  ! — and,  unless  there  is  a  little  attention 
drawn  beforehand,  what  chance  have  you  ?  I  want  a  friend  in 
court — I  want  several  friends  in  court — and  that's  the  truth; 
now,  how  am  I  to  get  them  ?" 

This  was  plain  speaking ;  but  he  was  none  the  less  bewildered. 

"  You  see.  Lady  Adela,  the  theatre  is  so  different  from  the 
world  of  letters.  I've  met  one  or  two  newspaper  men  now  and 
again,  but  they  were  dramatic  critics — I  never  heard  that  they 
reviewed  books." 

"  But  they  were  connected  with  newspapers  ? — then  they  must 
know  the  men  who  do,"  said  this  alert  and  intelligent  lady. 
"  Oh,  I  don't  ask  for  anything  unfair  !  I  only  ask  for  a  chance. 
I  don't  want  to  be  thrown  into  a  corner  unread  or  sold  to  the 
second-hand  bookseller  uncut.  Now,  Mr.  Moore,  think.  You 
must  know  lots  of  newspaper  men  if  you  would  only  think : 
why,  they're  always  coming  about  theatres.  And  they  would 
do  anything  for  you,  for  you  are  such  a  popular  favorite  ;  and  a 
word  from  you  would  be  of  such  value  to  a  beginner  like  me. 
Now,  Mr.  Moore,  be  good-natured,  and  co)isidcr.  But  first  of  all 
come  away  and  have  some  lunch,  and  then  we'll  talk  it  over." 

When  they  had  gone  into  the  dining-room  and  sat  down  at 
tabic,  he  said, 

"  Well,  if  it  comes  to  that,  I  certainly  know  one  newspapei 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  25 

man ;  in  fact,  I  have  known  Lim  all  my  life  ;  he  is  my  oldest 
friend.  But  then  he  is  merely  the  head  of  the  Parliamentary 
reporting  staff  of  the  Morning  Mirror — he's  in  the  i^-allery  of 
the  House  of  Commons,  you  know,  every  night — and  I'm  afraid 
he  couldn't  do  much  about  a  book." 

"Couldn't  he  do  a  little,  Mr.  Moore?"  said  Lady  Adela, 
insidiously.  *'  Couldn't  he  get  it  hinted  in  the  papers  that 
'Lady  Arthur  Castletown'  is  only  a  nom  de lilume V 

"  Then  you  don't  object  to  your  own  name  being  mentioned  ?" 
asked  this  simple  young  man." 

"  No,  no,  not  at  all,"  said  she,  frankly.  "  People  are  sure  to 
get  to  know.  There  are  some  sketches  of  character  in  the  book 
that  I  think  will  make  a  little  stir — I  mean  people  will  be  ask- 
ing questions ;  and  then  you  know  how  a  pseudonym  whets 
curiosity — they  will  certainly  find  out — and  they  will  talk  all 
the  more  then.  That  ought  to  do  the  book  some  good.  And 
then  you  understand,  Mr.  Moore,"  continued  this  remarkably 
naive  person,  "  if  your  friend  happened  to  know  any  of  the  re- 
viewers, and  could  suggest  how  some  little  polite  attention  might 
be  paid  them,  there  would  be  nothing  wrong  in  that,  would 
there  ?  I  am  told  that  they  are  quite  gentlemen  nowadays — 
they  go  everywhere — and — and  indeed  I  should  like  to  make 
their  acquaintance,  since  Pve  come  into  the  writing  fraternity 
myself." 

Lionel  Moore  was  silent ;  he  was  considering  how  he  should 
approach  the  fastidious,  whimsical,  sardonic  Maurice  Mangan  on 
this  extremely  difficult  subject. 

"  Let  me  see,"  he  said,  presently.  "  This  is  Wednesday  ;  my 
friend  Mangan  won't  be  at  the  House  ;  I  will  send  a  message  to 
his  rooms,  and  ask  him  to  come  down  to  the  theatre :  then  we 
can  have  a  consultation  about  it.  May  I  take  this  copy  of  the 
book  with  me.  Lady  Adela  ?" 

"  Certainly,  certainly  !"  said  she,  with  promptitude.  "  And  if 
you  know  of  any  one  to  whom  I  should  send  a  copy,  with  the 
author's  name  in  it — my  own  name,  I  mean — it  would  be  ex- 
tremely kind  of  you  to  let  me  know.  It's  so  awfully  hard  for 
us  poor  outsiders  to  get  a  hearing.  You  professional  folk  are 
in  a  very  different  position — the  public  just  worship  you — you 
have  it  all  your  own  way — you  don't  need  to  care  what  the 
critics  say — but  look  at  me  !     I  may  knock  and  knock  at  the  door 


36  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

of  the  Temple  of  Fame  until  my  knuckles  are  sore,  and  who  will 
take  any  notice — unless,  perhaps,  some  friendly  ear  begins  to 
listen  ?  Do  you  think  Mr.  Mangan — did  you  say  Mangan  ? — 
do  you  think  he  would  come  and  dine  with  us  some  evening  ?" 

The  artless  ingenuousness  of  her  speech  was  almost  embar- 
rassing. 

"  He  is  a  very  busy  man,"  he  said,  doubtfully,  "  very  busy. 
He  has  his  gallery  work  to  do,  of  course ;  and  then  I  believe 
he  is  engaged  on  some  important  philosophical  treatise — he  has 
been  at  it  for  years,  indeed — " 

"  Oh,  he  writes  books  too?"  Lady  Adela  cried.  "Then  cer- 
tainly you  must  bring  him  to  dinner.  Shall  I  write  a  note  now, 
Mr.  Moore — a  Sunday  evening,  of  course,  so  that  we  may  secure 
you  as  well — " 

"  I  think  I  would  wait  a  little.  Lady  Adela,"  he  said,  "  until  I 
see  how  the  land  lies.  He's  a  most  curious  fellow,  Mangan : 
difficult  to  please  and  capricious.  I  fancy  he  is  rather  disap- 
pointed with  himself ;  he  ought  to  have  done  something  great, 
for  he  knows  everything — at  least  he  knows  what  is  fine  in 
everything,  in  painting,  in  poetry,  in  music;  and  yet,  with  all 
his  sympathy,  he  seems  to  be  forever  grumbling — and  mostly 
at  himself.     He  is  a  difficult  fellow  to  deal  with — " 

"  I  suppose  he  eats  his  dinner  like  anybody  else,"  said  Lady 
Adela,  somewhat  sharply :  she  was  not  used  to  having  her  in- 
vitations scorned. 

"  Yes,  but  I  tliink  he  would  prefer  to  eat  it  in  a  village  ale- 
house," Lionel  said,  with  a  smile,  "  where  he  could  make  '  the 
violet  of  a  legend  blow,  among  the  chops  and  steaks.'  However, 
I  will  take  him  your  book.  Lady  Adela ;  and  I  have  no  doubt 
he  will  be  able  to  give  you  some  good  advice." 

It  was  late  that  evening  when,  in  obedience  to  the  summons 
of  a  sixpenny  telegram,  Maurice  Mangan  called  at  the  stage-door 
of  the  New  Theatre  and  was  passed  in.  Lionel  Moore  was  on  the 
stage,  as  any  one  could  tell,  for  the  resonant  baritone  voice  was 
ringing  clear  above  the  multitudinous  music  of  the  orchestra ; 
but  Mangan,  not  wishing  to  be  in  the  way,  did  not  linger  in  the 
wings — he  made  straight  for  his  friend's  room,  which  he  knew. 
And  in  the  dusk  of  the  long  corridor  he  was  fortunate  enough 
to  behold  a  beautiful  apparition,  in  the  person  of  a  young  French 
officer  ill   the  gayest  of  uniforms,  who,  apparently  to  maintain 


PHINCE    FORTUNATU8.  27 

the  character  he  bore  in  the  piece  (it  was  that  of  a  young  pris- 
oner of  war  liberated  on  parole,  who  played  sad  havoc  with  the 
hearts  of  the  village  maidens  by  reason  of  his  fascinating  ways 
and  pretty  broken  English),  had  just  facetiously  chucked  two  of 
the  women  dressers  under  the  chin ;  and  these  damsels  were 
simpering  at  this  mark  of  condescension,  and  evidently  much 
impressed  by  the  swagger  and  braggadocio  of  the  miniature 
warrior.  However,  Mile.  Girond  (the  boy-officer  in  question)  no 
sooner  caught  sight  of  the  new-comer  than  she  instantly  and  de- 
murely altered  her  demeanor ;  and  as  she  passed  him  in  the 
corridor  she  favored  him  with  a  grave  and  courteous  little  bow, 
for  she  had  met  him  more  than  once  in  Miss  Burgoyne's  sitting- 
room.  Mangan  returned  the  salutation  most  respectfully ;  and 
then  he  went  on  and  entered  the  apartment  in  which  Lionel 
Moore  dressed. 

It  was  empty ;  so  this  tall,  thin  man  with  the  slightly  stoop- 
ing shoulders  threw  himself  into  a  wicker-work  easy-chair,  and 
let  his  eyes — which  were  much  keener  than  was  properly  com- 
patible with  the  half-affected  expression  of  indolence  that  had 
become  habitual  to  him — roam  over  the  heterogeneous  collection 
of  articles  around.  These  were  abundantly  familiar  to  him — 
the  long  dressing-table,  with  all  its  appliances  for  making-up, 
the  mirrors,  the  wigs  on  blocks,  the  gay-colored  garments,  the 
fencing-foils  and  swords,  the  framed  series  of  portraits  from 
•'  Vanity  Fair,"  the  innumerable  photographs  stuck  everywhere 
about.  Indeed,  it  was  something  not  immediately  connected 
with  these  paraphernalia  of  an  actor's  existence  that  seemed  to 
be  occupying  his  mind,  even  as  he  idly  regarded  the  various 
pastes  and  colors,  the  powder-puffs  and  pencils,  the  pots  of 
vaseline.  His  eyes  grew  absent  as  he  sat  there.  Was  he 
thinking  of  the  Linn  Moore  of  years  and  years  ago  who  used 
to  reveal  to  the  companion  of  his  boyhood  all  his  high  aims 
and  strenuous  ambitions — how  he  was  resolved  to  become  a 
Mendelssohn,  a  Mozart,  a  Beethoven?  Whither  had  fled  all 
those  wistful  dreams  and  ardent  aspirations?  What  was  Linn 
Moore  now  ? — why,  a  singer  in  comic  opera,  his  face  beplastered 
almost  out  of  recognition  ;  a  pet  of  the  frivolous-fashionable  side 
of  London  society ;  the  chief  adornment  of  photographers'  win- 
dows. 

"  '  Half  a  beast  is  the  great  god  Pan,'  "  this  tall,  languid-look- 


28  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

ing  man  murmured  to  himself,  as  he  was  vacuously  staring  at 
those  paints  and  brushes  and  cosmetics ;  and  then  he  got  up 
and  began  to  walk  indeterminately  about  the  room,  his  hands 
behind  his  back. 

Presently  the  door  was  opened,  and  in  came  Lionel  Moore, 
followed  by  his  dresser. 

"  Hallo,  Maurice  ! — you're  late,"  said  Harry  Thornhill,  as  he 
surrendered  himself  to  his  factotum,  who  forthwith  began  to 
strip  him  of  his  travelling  costume  of  cocked  hat,  frogged  coat, 
white  leather  breeches,  and  shining  black  boots  in  order  to  make 
way  for  the  more  brilliant  attire  of  the  last  act. 

"  Now  that  I  am  here,  what  are  your  highness's  commands  ?" 
Mangan  asked. 

"  There's  a  book  there — written  by  a  friend  of  mine,"  Lionel 
said,  as  he  was  helping  his  dresser  to  get  off  the  glittering  top- 
boots.  "  She  wants  me  to  do  what  I  can  for  her  with  the  press. 
What  do  I  know  about  that  ?  Still,  she  is  a  very  particular 
friend — and  you  must  advise  me." 

Mangan  rose  and  went  to  the  mantelpiece  and  took  down  Vol- 
ume L 

"  Lady  Arthur  Castletown — "  said  he. 

"  But  that  is  not  her  real  name,"  the  other  interposed.  "  Her 
real  name  is  Lady  Adela  Cunyngham — of  course  you  know  who 
she  is." 

"  I  have  been  permitted  to  hear  the  echo  of  her  name  from 
those  rare  altitudes  in  which  you  dwell  now,"  the  other  said, 
lazily.  "  So  she  is  one  of  your  fashionable  acquaintances  ;  and 
she  wants  to  secure  the  puff  preliminary,  and  a  number  of  favor- 
able reviews,  I  suppose ;  and  then  you  send  for  me.  But  what 
can  I  do  for  you  except  ask  one  or  two  of  the  gallery  men  to 
mention  the  book  in  their  London  Correspondent's  letter  ?" 

"  But  that's  the  very  thing,  my  dear  fellow !"  Lionel  Moore 
cried,  as  he  was  getting  on  his  white  silk  stockings.  "  The  very 
thing !  She  wants  attention  drawn  to  the  book.  She  doesn't 
want  to  be  passed  over.  She  wants  to  have  the  name  of  the 
book  and  the  name  of  the  author  brought  before  the  public — " 

"  Her  real  name  ?" 

"  Yes,  certainly,  if  that  is  advisable." 

"  Oh,  well,  there's  not  much  trouble  about  that.  You  can  al- 
wavs  minister  to  a  mind  diseased  by  a  morbid  craving  for  noto- 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  29 

riety  if  a  paragraph  in  a  country  newspaper  will  suflScc.  So 
this  is  part  of  what  your  fashionable  friends  expect  from  you, 
Linn,  in  return  for  their  patronage  ?" 

"  It's  nothing  of  the  kind  ;  she  would  do  as  much  for  me,  if 
she  knew  how,  or  if  there  were  any  occasion." 

"  Oh,  well,  it  is  no  great  thing,"  said  Mangan,  who  was  really 
a  very  good-natured  sort  of  person,  despite  his  supercilious 
talk.  "  In  fact,  you  might  do  her  ladyship  a  more  substantial 
service  than  that." 

"  How  ?" 

"  I  thought  you  knew  Quirk — Octavius  Quirk  ?" 

"  But  you  have  always  spoken  so  disparagingly  of  him  !"  the 
other  exclaimed. 

"  What  has  that  to  do  with  it  ?"  Mangan  asked ;  and  then  he 
continued,  in  his  indolent  fashion :  "  Why,  I  thought  you  knew  all 
about  Quirk.  Quirk  belongs  to  a  band  of  literary  weaklings,  not 
any  one  of  whom  can  do  anything  worth  speaking  of ;  but  they 
try  their  best  to  write  up  one  another  ;  and  sometimes  they  take 
it  into  their  heads  to  help  an  acquaintance — and  then  their  cry 
is  like  that  of  a  pack  of  beagles ;  you  would  think  the  press  of 
London,  or  a  considerable  section  of  it,  had  but  one  voice. 
Why  don't  you  take  Lady  Arthur's — Lady  Constance's — what's 
her  name  ? — why  don't  you  take  her  book  to  the  noble  associa- 
tion of  log-rollers  ?  I  presume  the  novel  is  trash  ;  they'll  wel- 
come it  all  the  more.  She  is  a  woman — she  is  not  to  be  feared  ; 
she  hasn't  as  yet  committed  the  crime  of  being  successful — she 
isn't  to  be  envied  and  anonymously  attacked.  That's  the  ticket 
for  you,  Linn.  They  mayn't  convince  the  public  that  Lady 
What's-her-name  is  a  wonderful  person ;  but  they  will  convince 
her  that  she  is  ;  and  what  more  does  she  want  ?" 

"  I  don't  understand  you,  Maurice  !"  the  young  baritone  cried, 
almost  angrily.  "  Again  and  again  you've  spoken  of  Octavius 
Quirk  as  if  he  were  beneath  contempt." 

"  What  has  that  to  do  with  it  ?"  the  other  repeated,  placidly. 
"  As  an  independent  writer.  Quirk  is  quite  beneath  contempt — 
quite.  There  is  no  backbone  in  his  writing  at  all,  and  he 
knows  his  own  weakness  ;  and  he  thinks  he  can  conceal  it  by 
the  use  of  furious  adjectives.  He  is  always  in  a  frantic  rush 
and  flurry,  that  produces  no  impression  on  anybody.  A  whirl- 
wind of  feathers,  that's  about  it.     He  goes  out  into  the  highway 


30  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

and  brandishes  a  double-handed  sword — in  order  to  sweep  off 
the  head  of  a  buttercup.  And  I  suppose  he  expects  the  public  to 
believe  that  his  wild  language,  all  about  nothing,  means  strength  ; 
just  as  he  hopes  that  they  will  take  his  noisy  horse-laugh  for 
humor.  That's  Octavius  Quirk  as  a  wi'iter — a  nobody,  a  nothing, 
a  wisp  of  straw  in  convulsions ;  but  as  a  puffer — ah,  there  you 
have  him ! — as  a  puffer,  magnificent,  glorious,  a  Greek  hero,  in- 
vincible, invulnerable.  My  good  man,  it's  Octavius  Quirk  you 
should  go  to !  Get  him  to  call  on  his  pack  of  beagles  to  give 
tongue ;  and  then,  my  goodness,  you'll  hear  a  cry — for  a  while 
at  least.     Is  there  anything  at  all  in  the  book  ?" 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Harry  Thornhill,  who  had  changed 
quickly,  and  was  now  regaling  himself  with  a  little  of  Miss  Bur- 
goyne's  lemonade,  with  which  the  prima-donna  was  so  kind  as 
to  keep  him  supplied.  "  Well,  now,  I  shall  be  on  the  stage  some 
time  ;  what  do  you  say  to  looking  over  Lady  Adela's  novel  ?" 

"  All  right." 

There  was  a  tapping  at  the  door ;  it  was  the  call-boy. 

But  Lionel  Moore  did  not  immediately  answer  the  summons. 

"  Look  here,  Maurice ;  if  you  should  find  anything  in  the 
book — anything  you  could  say  a  word  in  favor  of — I  wish  you'd 
come  round  to  the  Garden  Club  with  me,  after  the  performance, 
and  have  a  bit  of  supper.  Octavius  Quirk  is  almost  sure  to  be 
there." 

"  What,  Quirk  ?  I  thouglit  the  Garden  was  given  over  to 
dukes  and  comic  actors  ?" 

"  There's  a  sprinkling  of  everybody  in  it,"  the  young  baritone 
said ;  "  and  Quirk  likes  it  because  it  is  an  all-night  club — he 
never  seems  to  go  to  bed  at  all.     Will  you  do  that  ?" 

"  Oh,  yes,"  Maurice  Mangan  said  ;  and  forthwith,  as  his  friend 
left  the  dressing-room,  he  plunged  into  Lady  Adela's  novel. 

The  last  act  of  "  The  Squire's  Daughter  "  is  longer  than  its  pre- 
decessors ;  so  that  Mangan  had  plenty  of  time  to  acquire  some 
general  knowledge  of  the  character  and  contents  of  those  three 
volumes.  Indeed,  he  had  more  than  time  for  all  the  brief 
scrutiny  he  deemed  necessary  ;  when  Lionel  Moore  reappeared, 
to  get  finally  quit  of  his  theatrical  trappings  for  the  night,  his 
friend  was  standing  at  the  fireplace,  looking  at  a  sketch  in  brown 
chalk  of  Miss  Burgoync,  which  that  amiable  young  lady  had 
herself  presented  to  Harry  Thornhill." 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  31 

"  Well,  what's  the  verdict  ?" 

Mangan  turned  round,  rather  bewildered ;  and  then  he  recol- 
lected that  he  had  been  glancing  at  the  novel. 

"Oh,  that P''  he  said,  regarding  the  three  volumes  with  no 
very  favorable  air.  "  Mighty  poor  stuff,  I  should  say  ;  just 
about  as  weak  as  they  make  it.  But  harmless.  Some  of  the 
conversation — between  the  women — is  natural ;  trivial,  but  nat- 
ural. The  plain  truth  is,  my  dear  Linn,  it  is  a  very  foolish, 
stupid  book,  which  should  never  have  been  printed  at  all ;  but 
I  suppose  your  fashionable  friend  could  afford  to  pay  for  hav- 
ing it  printed." 

"  But,  look  here,  Maurice,"  Lionel  said,  in  considerable  sur- 
prise, "  I  don't  see  how  it  can  be  so  very  stupid,  when  Lady 
Adela  herself  is  one  of  the  brightest,  cleverest,  shrewdest,  most 
intelligent  women  you  could  meet  with  anywhere — quite  unusu- 
ally so." 

"  That  may  be  ;  but  she  is  not  the  first  clever  woman  who  has 
made  the  mistake  of  imagining  that  because  she  is  socially  pop- 
ular she  must  therefore  be  able  to  write  a  book." 

"  And  what  am  I  to  say  to  Octavius  Quirk  ?" 

"  What  are  you  to  say  to  the  log-rollers  ?  Don't  say  any- 
thing. Get  Lady  Adela  to  ask  one  or  two  of  them  to  dinner. 
You'll  fetch  Quirk  that  way  easily ;  they  say  Gargantua  was  a 
fool  compared  to  him." 

"  I've  seen  him  do  pretty  well  at  the  Garden,  especially  about 
two  in  the  morning,"  was  the  young  baritone's  comment ;  and 
then,  as  he  began  to  get  into  his  ordinary  attire,  he  said,  "  To 
tell  you  the  truth,  Maurice,  Lady  Adela  rather  hinted  that  she 
would  be  pleased  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  any — of  any  liter- 
ary man — " 

"  Who  could  do  her  book  a  good  turn  ?" 

"  No,  you  needn't  put  it  as  rudely  as  that.  She  rather  feels 
that,  in  becoming  an  authoress,  she  has  allied  herself  with  liter- 
ary people — and  would  naturally  like  to  make  acquaintances ; 
so,  if  it  came  to  that,  1  should  consider  myself  empowered  to 
.  ask  Quirk  whether  he  would  accept  an  invitation  to  dinner — I 
mean,  at  Cunyngham  Lodge.  It's  no  use  asking  you,  Maurice  V 
he  added,  with  a  little  hesitation. 

Maurice  Mangan  laughed. 

"  No,  no,  Linn,  my  boy  ;  thank  you  all  the  same.     I  say,"  he 


33  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

continued,  as  he  took  up  his  hat  and  stick,  seeing  that  Lionel 
was  about  ready  to  go,  "  do  you  ever  hear  from  Miss  Francie 
Wright,  or  have  you  forgotten  her  among  all  your  fine  friends  ?" 

"  Oh,  I  hear  from  Francie  sometimes,"  he  answered,  careless- 
ly, "  or  about  her,  anyway,  whenever  I  get  a  letter  from  home. 
She's  very  well.  Boarding  out  pauper  sick  children  is  her  new 
fad  ;  and  I  believe  she's  very  busy  and  very  happy  over  it.  Come 
along,  Maurice  ;  we'll  walk  up  to  the  Garden,  and  get  something 
of  an  appetite  for  supper." 

When  they  arrived  at  the  Garden  Club  (so  named  from  its 
proximity  to  Covent  Garden)  they  went  forthwith  into  the  spa- 
cious apartment  on  the  ground  floor  which  served  at  once  as 
dining-room,  newspaper-room,  and  smoking-room.  There  was 
hardly  anybody  in  it.  Four  young  men  in  evening  dress  were 
playing  cards  at  a  side-table ;  at  another  table  a  solitary  mem- 
ber was  writing ;  but  at  the  long  supper-table — which  was  pret- 
tily lit  up  with  crimson-shaded  lamps,  and  the  appointments  of 
which  seemed  very  trim  and  clean  and  neat — all  the  chairs  were 
empty,  and  the  only  other  occupants  of  the  place  were  the  ser- 
vants, who  wore  a  simple  livery  of  white  linen. 

"  What  for  supper,  Maurice  ?"  the  younger  of  the  two  friends 
asked. 

"  Anything — with  salad,"  Mangan  answered  ;  he  was  examin- 
ing a  series  of  old  engravings  that  hung  around  the  walls. 

"  On  a  warm  night  like  this  what  do  you  say  to  cold  lamb, 
salad,  and  some  hock  and  iced  soda-water  ?" 

"  All  right." 

Supper  was  speedily  forthcoming,  and,  as  they  took  their 
places,  Mangan  said, 

"  You  don't  often  go  down  to  see  the  old  people,  Linn  ?" 

"  I'm  so  frightfully  busy  !" 

"  Has  Miss  Francie  ever  been  up  to  the  theatre — to  see  '  The 
Squire's  Dauglitcr,'  I  mean  ?" — this  question  he  seemed  to  put 
rather  diffidently. 

"  No.  I've  asked  her  often  enough  ;  but  she  always  laughs 
and  puts  it  off.  She  seems  to  be  as  busy  down  there  as  I  am 
up  here." 

"  What  docs  she  think  of  the  great  name  and  fame  you  have 
made  for  yourself?" 

"  How  should  I  know  ?" 


PRINCE    FORTUNATU6.  :i3 

Then  there  was  silence  for  a  second  or  two. 

"  I  wish  you'd  run  down  to  see  them  some  Sunday,  Linn  ; 
I'd  go  down  with  you." 

"  Why  not  go  down  by  yourself  ? — they'd  be  tremendously 
glad  to  see  you." 

"  I  should  be  more  welcome  if  I  took  you  with  me.  You 
know  your  cousin  likes  you  to  pay  a  little  attention  to  the  old 
people.     Come  !     Say  Sunday  week." 

"  My  dear  fellow,  Sunday  is  my  busiest  day.  Sunday  night 
is  the  only  night  I  have  out  of  the  seven.  And  I  fancy  that  it 
is  for  that  very  Sunday  evening  that  Lord  Rockminster  has  en- 
gaged the  Lansdowne  Gallery ;  he  gives  a  little  dinner-party, 
and  his  sisters  have  a  big  concert  afterwards — we've  all  got  to 
sing  the  chorus  of  the  new  marching-song  Lady  Sybil  has  com- 
posed for  the  army." 

"  Who  is  Lady  Sybil  ?" 

"  The  sister  of  the  authoress  whose  novel  you  were  read- 
ing-" 

"  My  gracious  !  is  there  another  genius  in  the  family  ?" 

"  There's  a  third,"  said  Lionel,  with  a  bit  of  a  smile.  "  What 
would  you  say  if  Lady  Rosamund  Bourne  were  to  paint  a  por- 
trait of  me  as  Harry  Thornhill  for  the  Royal  Academy  ?" 

"  I  should  say  the  betting  was  fifty  to  one  against  its  getting 
in." 

"  Ah,  you're  unjust,  Maurice  ;  you  don't  know  them.  I  dare 
say  you  judged  that  novel  by  some  high  literary  standard 
that  it  doesn't  pretend  to  reach.  I  am  sure  of  this,  that  if  it's 
half  as  clever  as  Lady  Adela  Cunyngham  herself,  it  will  do  very 
well." 

"  It  will  do  very  well  for  the  kind  of  people  who  will  read  it," 
said  the  other,  indifferently. 

This  was  a  free-and-easy  place ;  when  they  had  finished  sup- 
per, Lionel  Moore  lit  a  cigarette,  and  his  friend  a  briar-root  pipe, 
withouf  moving  from  the  table ;  and  Mangan's  prayer  was  still 
that  his  companion  should  fix  Sunday  week  for  a  visit  to  the 
little  Surrey  village  where  they  had  been  boys  together,  and 
where  Lionel's  father  and  mother  (to  say  nothing  of  a  certain 
Miss  Francie  Wright,  whose  name  cropped  up  more  than  once 
in  Mangan's  talk)  were  still  living.  But  during  this  entreaty 
Lionel's  attention  happened  to  be  attracted  to  the  glass  door 


34  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

communicating  with  the  hall ;  and  instantly  he  said,  in  an  un- 
dertone : 

"  Here's  a  stroke  of  luck,  Maurice ;  Quirk  has  just  come  in. 
How  am  I  to  sound  him  ?     AMiat  should  I  do  ?" 

"  Haven't  I  told  you  ?"  said  Mangan,  curtly.  "  Get  your 
swell  friends  to  feed  him." 

Nevertheless,  this  short,  fat  man,  who  now  strode  into  the 
room  and  nodded  briefly  to  these  two  acquaintances,  speedily 
showed  that  on  occasion  he  knew  how  to  feed  himself.  He 
called  a  waiter,  and  ordered  an  underdone  beefsteak  with  Spanish 
onions,  toasted  cheese  to  follow,  and  a  large  bottle  of  stout  to 
begin  with ;  then  he  took  the  chair  at  the  head  of  the  table, 
thus  placing  himself  next  to  Lionel  Moore. 

"  A  very  empty  den  to-night,"  observed  this  new-comer,  whose 
heavy  face,  watery  blue  eyes,  lank  hair  plentifully  streaked  with 
gray,  and  unwholesome  complexion  would  not  have  produced  a 
too-favorable  impression  on  any  one  unacquainted  with  his  liter- 
ary gifts  and  graces. 

Lionel  agreed ;  and  then  followed  a  desultory  conversation 
about  nothing  in  particular,  though  Mr.  Octavius  Quirk  was  do- 
ing his  best  to  say  clever  things  and  show  off  his  boisterous 
humor.  Indeed,  it  was  not  until  that  gentleman's  very  sub- 
stantial supper  was  being  brought  in  that  Lionel  got  an  op- 
portunity of  artfully  asking  him  whether  he  had  heard  anything 
of  Lady  Adela  Cunyngham's  forthcoming  novel.  He  was  about 
to  proceed  to  explain  that  "  Lady  Arthur  Castletown "  was 
only  a  pseudonym,  when  he  was  interrupted  by  Octavius  Quirk 
bursting  into  a  roar — a  somewhat  affected  roar — of  scornful 
laughter. 

"  Well,  of  all  the  phenomena  of  the  day,  that  is  the  most  ludi- 
crous," he  cried,  "  — the  so-called  aristocracy  thinking  that  they 
can  produce  anything  in  the  shape  of  art  or  literature.  The 
aristocracy — the  most  exhausted  of  all  our  exhausted  social 
strata — what  can  be  expected  from  it  ?  Why,  we  haven't  any- 
where nowadays  cither  art  or  literature  or  drama  that  is  worthy 
of  the  name — not  anywhere — it  is  all  a  ghastly,  spurious  make- 
believe — a  mechanical  manufactory  of  paintings  and  books  and 
plays  without  a  spark  of  life  in  them-^" 

Lionel  Moore  resentfully  thought  to  himself  that  if  Mr.  Quirk 
had  been  able  to  do  anything  in  any  one  of  these  directions  he 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  35 

might  have  held  less  despairing  views  ;  but,  of  course,  he  did  not 
interrupt  this  feebly  tempestuous  monologue. 

" — We  are  all  played  out,  that  is  the  fact — the  soil  is  ex- 
hausted— w^e  want  a  great  national  upheaval — a  new  condition 
of  things — a  social  revolution,  in  short.  And  we're  going  to  get 
it,"  he  continued,  in  a  sort  of  triumphant  way  ;  "  there's  no  mis- 
take about  that ;  the  social  revolution  is  in  the  air,  it  is  under 
our  feet,  it  is  pressing  in  upon  us  from  every  side ;  and  yet  at  the 
very  moment  that  the  aristocracy  have  got  notice  to  quit  their 
deer-forests  and  their  salmon-rivers  and  grouse-moors,  they  so 
far  mistake  the  signs  of  the  times  that  they  think  they  should 
be  devoting  themselves  to  art  and  going  on  the  stage !  ^Yas 
there  ever  such  incomprehensible  madness  ?" 

"  I  hope  they  won't  sweep  away  deer-forests  and  grouse-moors 
just  all  at  once,"  the  young  baritone  said,  modestly,  "  for  I  am 
asked  to  go  to  the  Highlands  at  the  beginning  of  next  August." 

"  Make  haste,  then,  and  see  the  last  of  these  doomed  institu- 
tions !"  observed  Mr.  Quirk,  with  dark  significance,  as  he  looked 
up  from  his  steak  and  onions.  "  I  tell  you  deer-forests  are 
doomed  ;  grouse-moors  are  doomed  ;  salmon-rivers  are  doomed. 
They  are  a  survival  of  feudal  rights  and  privileges  which  the 
new  democracy — the  new  ruling  power — will  make  short  work 
of.  The  time  has  gone  by  for  all  these  absurd  restrictions  and 
reservations  !  There  is  no  defence  for  them  ;  there  never  was  ; 
they  were  conceived  in  an  iniquity  of  logic  which  modern  com- 
mon-sense will  no  longer  suffer.  Bona  vacantia  can't  belong  to 
anybody — therefore  they  belong  to  the  king ;  that's  a  pretty 
piece  of  reasoning,  isn't  it  ?  And  if  the  crofter  or  the  laborer 
says, '  Bona  vacantia  can't  belong  to  anybody — therefore  they  be- 
long to  me  ' — isn't  the  reasoning  as  good  ?  But  it  is  not  merely 
game-laws  that  must  be  abolished,  it  is  game  itself." 

"  If  you  abolish  the  one,  you'll  soon  get  rid  of  the  other," 
Maurice  Mangan  said,  with  a  kind  of  half-contemptuous  indif- 
ference ;  he  was  examining  this  person  in  a  curious  way,  as  he 
might  have  looked  through  the  wires  of  a  cage  in  the  Zoological 
Gardens. 

"  Both  must  be  abolished,"  Mr.  Octavius  Quirk  continued, 
with  windy  vehemence.  "  The  very  distinction  that  takes  any 
animal  ferw  naturae,  and  constitutes  it  game  is  a  relic  of  class 
privilege  and  must  go — " 


36  PKINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  Then  Irish  landlords  will  no  longer  be  considered  feroe 
naturceV  Mangan  asked,  incidentally. 

''  We  must  be  free  from  these  feudal  tyrannies,  these  med- 
iaeval chains  and  manacles  that  the  Norman  kings  imposed  on 
a  conquered  people.  We  must  be  as  free  as  the  United  States 
of  America — " 

"  America  !"  Mangan  said  ;  and  he  was  rude  enough  to  laugh. 
"  The  State  of  New  York  has  more  stringent  game-laws  than  any 
European  country  that  I  know  of ;  and  why  not  ?  They  wanted 
to  preserve  certain  wild  animals,  for  the  general  good  ;  and  they 
took  the  only  possible  way." 

Quirk  was  disconcerted  only  for  a  moment ;  presently  he  had 
resumed,  in  his  reckless,  mouton-enrage  fashion, 

"  That  may  be ;  but  the  Democracy  of  Great  Britain  has  pro- 
nounced against  game ;  and  game  must  go ;  there  is  no  disputing 
the  fact.  Hunting  in  any  civilized  community  is  a  relic  of  bar- 
barism ;  it  is  worse  in  this  country — it  is  an  infringement  of  the 
natural  rights  of  the  tiller  of  the  soil.  What  is  the  use  of  talk- 
ing about  it  ? — the  whole  thing  is  doomed  ;  if  you're  going  to 
Scotland  this  autumn,  Mr.  Moore,  if  you  are  to  be  shown  all  those 
exclusive  pastimes  of  the  rich  and  privileged  classes,  well,  I'd 
advise  you  to  keep  your  eyes  open,  and  write  as  clear  an  account 
of  what  you  see  as  you  can ;  and,  by  Jove,  twenty  years  hence 
your  book  will  be  read  with  amazement  by  the  new  genera- 
tion !" 

Here  the  pot  of  foaming  stout  claimed  his  attention  ;  he  bur- 
ied his  head  in  it ;  and  thereafter,  sitting  back  in  his  chair, 
sighed  forth  his  satisfaction.  The  time  was  come  for  a  large 
cigar. 

And  how,  in  the  face  of  this  fierce  denunciation  of  the  wealthy 
classes  and  all  their  ways,  could  Lionel  Moore  put  in  a  word  for 
Lady  Adela's  poor  little  literary  infant?  It  would  be  shrivelled 
into  nothing  by  a  blast  of  this  simulated  simoom.  It  would  be 
trodden  under  foot  by  the  log-roller's  elephantine  jocosity.  In 
a  sort  of  despair  he  turned  to  Maurice  Mangan,  and  would  have 
entered  into  conversation  with  him  but  that  Mangan  now  rose 
and  said  he  must  be  going,  nor  could  he  be  prevailed  on  to  stay. 
Lionel  accompanied  him  into  the  hall. 

*'  That  Jabberwock  makes  me  sick ;  he's  such  an  ugly  devil," 
Mangan  said,  as  he  put  on  his  hat;  and  surely  that  was  strange 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  37 

language  conning  from  a  grave  philosopher  who  was  about  to 
publish  a  volume  on  the  "  Fundamental  Fallacies  of  M.  Comte." 

"  But  what  am  I  to  do,  Maurice  ?"  Lionel  said,  as  his  friend 
was  leaving.  "  It's  no  use  asking  for  his  intervention  at  present ; 
he's  simply  running  amuck." 

"  If  your  friend — Lady  What's-her-name — is  as  clever  as  you 
say,  she'll  just  twist  that  fellow  round  her  finger,"  the  other  ob- 
served, briefly.     "  Good-night,  Linn." 

And  indeed,  it  was  not  of  Octavius  Little,  nor  yet  of  Lady 
Adela's  novel,  that  Maurice  Mangan  was  thinking  as  he  care- 
lessly walked  away  through  the  dark  London  thoroughfares, 
towards  his  rooms  in  Victoria  Street.  He  was  thinking  of  that 
quiet  little  Surrey  village ;  and  of  two  boys  there  who  had  a 
great  belief  in  each  other — and  in  themselves,  too,  for  the  mat- 
ter of  that ;  and  of  all  the  beautiful  and  wonderful  dreams  they 
dreamed  while  as  yet  the  far-reaching  future  was  veiled  from  them. 
And  then  he  thought  of  Linn  Moore's  dressing-room  at  the  the- 
atre ;  and  of  the  paints  and  powder  and  vulgar  tinsel  that  had 
to  fit  him  out  for  exhibition  before  the  footlights ;  and  of  the 
feverish  whirl  of  life  and  the  bedazzlement  of  popularity  and 
fashionable  petting ;  and  somehow  or  other  the  closing  lines  of 
Mrs.  Browning's  poem  would  come  ever  and  anon  into  his  head 
as  a  sort  of  unceasing  refrain : 

"  The  true  gods  sigh  for  the  cost  and  pain, — 
For  the  reed  that  grows  nevermore  again 
As  a  reed  with  the  reeds  in  the  river." 


CHAPTER  III. 

NINA. 

One  morning  Lionel  was  just  about  to  go  out  (he  had  already 
been  round  to  the  gymnasium  and  got  his  fencing  over)  when 
the  house-porter  came  up  and  said  that  a  young  lady  wished  to 
see  him. 

"  "What  does  she  want  ?"  he  said,  impatiently — for  something 
had  gone  wrong  with  the  clasp  of  his  cigarette-case,  and  he  could 
not  get  it  right.     "  What's  her  name  ?     Who  is  she  ?" 

"  She  gave  me  her  name,  sir ;  but  I  did  not  quite  catch  it," 
said  the  factotum  of  the  house. 


38  PRINCE     FORTUNATUS. 

"  Oh,  well,  send  her  up,"  said  he  ;  no  doubt  this  was  some 
trembling  debutante,  accompanied  by  an  ancient  duenna  and  a 
roll  of  music.  And  then  he  went  to  the  window,  to  try  to  get 
the  impenitent  clasp  to  shut. 

But  perhaps  he  would  not  have  been  so  wholly  engrossed  with 
that  trifling  difficulty  had  he  known  who  this  was  who  had  come 
softly  up  the  stair  and  was  now  standing,  irresolute,  smiling,  won- 
dering, at  the  open  door.  She  was  a  remarkably  pretty,  even 
handsome  young  lady,  whose  pale,  clear,  olive  complexion  and 
coal-black  hair  bespoke  her  Southern  birth ;  while  there  was  an 
eager  and  yet  timid  look  in  her  lustrous,  soft  black  eyes,  and 
something  about  the  mobile,  half-parted  mouth  that  seemed  to 
say  she  hardly  knew  whether  to  cry  or  laugh  over  this  meeting 
with  an  old  friend.  A  very  charming  picture  she  presented 
there ;  for,  besides  her  attractive  personal  appearance,  she  was 
very  neatly,  not  to  say  coquettishly,  dressed,  her  costume,  which 
had  a  distinctly  foreign  air,  being  all  of  black,  save  for  the  smart 
little  French-looking  hat  of  deep  crimson  straw  and  velvet. 

At  last  she  said, 

"  Leo !" 

He  turned  instantly,  and  had  nearly  dropped  the  cigarette-case 
in  his  amazement.  And  for  a  second  he  seemed  paralyzed  of 
speech — he  was  wholly  bewildered — perhaps  overcome  by  some 
swift  sense  of  responsibility  at  finding  Antonia  Rossi  in  London, 
and  alone. 

"  Che,  Nina  mia,"  he  cried  ;  "  tu  stai  cca  a  Londra ! — chesta 
mo,  chi  su  credeva ! — e  senza  manca  scriverme  nu  viers'  e  lettere 
— Nina  ! — mi  pare  nu  suonno  ! — " 

She  interrupted  him;  she  came  forward,  smiling — and  the 
parting  of  the  pretty  lips  showed  a  sunny  gleam  of  teeth  ;  she 
held  up  her  two  liands,  palm  outwards,  as  if  she  would  shut  away 
from  herself  that  old,  familiar  Neapolitanese. 

"  No,  no,  no,  Leo,"  she  said,  rapidly,  "  I  speak  English  now — 
I  study,  study,  study,  morning,  day,  night ;  and  always  I  say, 
*  When  I  see  Leo,  he  have  much  surprise  that  I  speak  English ' 
— always  I  say,  '  Some  day  I  go  to  England,  and  when  I  see 
Leo '— " 

The  happy,  eager  smile  suddenly  died  away  from  lier  face. 
She  looked  at  him.  A  strange  kind  of  trouble — of  doubt  and 
wonderment  and  pain — came  into  those  soft,  dark,  expressive  eyes. 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  39 

"  You — you  not  wish  to  see  me,  Leo  ?"  she  said,  rather  breath- 
lessly— and  as  if  she  could  hardly  believe  this  thing.  "  I  come 
to  London — and  you  not  glad  to  see  mc — " 

Quick  tears  of  wounded  pride  sprang  to  the  long  black  lashes  ; 
but,  with  a  dignified,  even  haughty  inclination  of  the  head,  she 
turned  from  him  and  put  her  hand  on  the  handle  of  the  door. 
At  the  same  instant  he  caught  her  arm. 

*'  "WTiy,  Nina,  you're  just  the  spoiled  child  you  always  were  ! 
Ah,  your  English  doesn't  go  so  far  as  that ;  you  don't  know 
what  a  spoiled  child  is  ? — e  la  cianciosella,  you  Neapolitan  girl ! 
Why,  of  course  I'm  glad  to  see  you — I  am  delighted  to  see  you 
— but  you  frightened  me,  Nina — your  coming  like  this,  alone — " 

"  I  frighten  you,  Leo  ?"  she  said,  and  a  quick  laugh  shone 
brightly  through  her  tears.  "  Ah,  I  see — it  is  that  I  have  no 
chaperon  ?  But  I  had  no  time — I  wished  to  see  you,  Leo — I 
,  said, '  Leo  will  understand,  and  afterwards  I  get  a  chaperon  all 
correctly.  Oh,  yes,  yes,  I  know — but  where  is  the  time  ? — yes- 
terday I  go  through  the  streets — it  is  Leo,  Leo  everywhere  in 
the  windows — I  see  you  in  this  costume,  in  the  other  costume 
— and  your  name  so  large,  so  very  large,  in  the — in  the — " 

"  The  theatre-bills  ?  Well,  sit  down,  Nina,  and  tell  me  how 
you  come  to  be  in  London." 

She  had  by  this  time  quite  forgiven  or  forgotten  his  first  dis- 
may on  finding  her  there ;  and  now  she  took  a  chair  with  much 
quiet  complaisance,  and  sat  down,  and  put  her  black  silk  sun- 
shade across  her  knees. 

"  It  is  simple,"  she  said,  and  from  time  to  time  she  regarded 
him  in  a  very  frank  and  pleased  and  even  affectionate  way,  as  if 
the  old  comradeship  of  the  time  when  they  were  both  studying 
in  Naples  was  not  to  be  interfered  with  by  the  natural  timidity 
of  a  young  and  extremely  pretty  woman  coming  as  a  stranger 
into  a  strange  town.  "  You  remember  Carmela,  Leo  ?  Carmela 
and  her — her  spouse — they  have  great  good-fortune — they  get 
a  grand  prize  in  the  lottery — then  he  says, '  Carmeluccia,  we  will 
go  to  Paris — we  will  go  to  Paris,  Carmeluccia — and  why  not 
Nina  also  ?  Very  kind,  was  it  not  ? — but  Andrea  is  always  kind, 
so  also  Carmela,  to  me.  Then  I  am  in  Paris.  I  say, '  It  is  not 
far  to  London ;  I  go  to  London  ;  I  go  to  London  and  see  Leo.' 
Perhaps  I  get  an  engagement  —  oh,  no,  no,  no,  you  shall  not 
laugh  !"  she  broke  in — though  it  was  she  herself  who  was  laugh- 


40  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

ing,  and  not  be  at  all.  "  I  am  improved — ob,  yes,  a  little — a 
little  improved — you  remember  old  Pandiani  be  always  say  my 
voice  not  bad,  but  tbat  agilith  was  for  me  very  difficult." 

He  remembered  very  well ;  but  be  also  remembered  tbat  when 
be  left  Naples,  Signorina  Rossi  was  laboring  away  witb  tbe  most 
pertinacious  assiduity  at  cavatinas  full  of  runs  and  scales  and 
fiorituri  generally  ;  and  be  was  quite  willing  to  believe  tbat  sucb 
diligence  bad  met  witb  its  due  reward.  But  wben  tbe  young 
lady  modestly  binted  tbat  sbe  bad  left  ber  music  in  tbe  ball  be- 
low, and  would  like  Leo  to  bear  wbetber  sbe  bad  not  acquired  a 
good  deal  more  of  flexibility  tban  ber  voice  used  to  possess, 
and  wben  be  bad  fetcbed  the  music  and  taken  it  to  tbe  piano 
for  her,  he  was  not  a  little  surprised  to  see  her  select  Ambroise 
Thomas's  "  lo  son  Titania."  And  he  was  still  more  astonished 
wben  be  found  her  singing  this  difficult  piece  of  music  with  a 
brilliancy,  an  ease,  a  verve  of  execution  tbat  he  had  never  dreamed 
of  her  being  able  to  reach. 

"  Brava  !  Brava  !  Bravissima ! — Well,  you  have  improved, 
Nina !"  he  exclaimed.  "  And  it  isn't  only  in  freedom  of  pro- 
duction, it  is  in  quality,  too,  in  timbre — my  goodness,  your  voice 
has  ever  so  much  more  volume  and  power !  Come,  now,  try 
some  big,  dramatic  thing — " 

She  shook  her  bead. 

"  No,  no,  Leo,  I  know  what  I  do,"  she  said.  ''  I  shall  never 
have  the  grand  style — never — but  you  think  I  am  improved? 
Yes.     Well,  now,  I  sing  something  else." 

He  forgot  all  about  ber  lack  of  a  chaperon  ;  they  were  fellow- 
students  again,  as  in  tbe  old  days  at  Naples,  when  they  worked 
hard  (and  also  played  a  little),  when  they  comforted  each  other, 
and  strove  to  bear  with  equanimity  the  grumbling  and  queru- 
lousness  of  tbat  always-dissatisfied  old  Pandiani.  Signorina 
Rossi  now  sang  tbe  Shadow  Song  from  "  Dinorah  ;"  then  she 
sang  the  Jewel  Song  from  "  Faust ;"  sbe  sang  "  Caro  nome  "  from 
"  Kigoletto,"  or  anything  else  that  he  could  suggest ;  and  her 
runs  and  shakes  and  scale  passages  were  delivered  witb  a  free- 
dom and  precision  that  again  and  again  called  forth  bis  applause. 

"  And  you  have  never  simg  in  public,  Nina  ?"  ho  asked. 

"  At  one  concert,  yes,  in  Naples,"  the  young  lady  made  an- 
swer. "  And  at  two  or  three  matinees.''''  And  then  she  turned 
to  him,  with  a  briglit  look.    "  You  know  this,  Leo  ? — I  am  offered 


'■'She  tunu'd  from  him   and  put  lier  linnd  on  the  handle  of  the  door. 
At  the  same  instant  he  cautjht  her  arm." 


PRINCE    FORTUNATCS.  41 

— no — I  was  offered — an  engagement  to  sing  in  opera ;  oh,  yes ; 
it  was  the  impresario  from  Malta — he  comes  to  Naples — Pan- 
diaui  makes  us  all  sing  to  him — then  will  I  go  to  Malta,  to  the 
opera  there  ?     No  !" 

"  Why  not,  Nina  ?    Surely  that  was  a  good  opening,"  he  said. 

She  turned  away  from  him  again,  and  her  fingers  wandered 
lightly  over  the  keys  of  the  piano. 

"  I  always  say  to  me, '  Some  day  I  am  in  England  ;  the  Eng- 
lish give  much  money  at  concerts  ;  perhaps  that  is  better.'  " 

"  So  you've  come  over  to  England  to  get  a  series  of  concert- 
room  engagements  ;  is  that  it,  Nina  ?" 

She  shrugged  her  shoulders  ever  so  slightly. 

"  Perhaps.  One  must  wait  and  see.  It  is  not  my  ambition. 
No.     The  light  opera,  that  is — popular  ? — is  it  right  ?" 

"  Yes,  yes." 

"  It  is  very  popular  in  England,"  said  the  young  Italian  lady, 
w4th  her  eyes  coming  back  from  the  music-sheets  to  seek  those 
of  her  friend.  "  Well,  Leo,  if  I  take  a  small  part  to  begin,  have 
I  voice  sufficient  ?  What  do  you  think  ?  No  ;  be  frank :  say 
to  yourself,  '  I  am  Pandiani ;  here  is  Antonia  Rossi  troubling 
me  once  more ;  it  is  useless ;  go  away,  Antonia  Rossi,  and  not 
trouble  me  1'     W^ell,  Maestro  Pandiani,  what  you  say  ?" 

"  So  you  want  to  go  on  the  stage,  Nina  ?"  said  he  ;  and  again 
the  dread  of  finding  himself  responsible  for  this  solitary  young 
stranger  sent  a  qualm  to  his  heart.  It  was  an  embarrassing  po- 
sition altogether  ;  but  at  the  same  time  the  thought  of  shaking 
her  off — of  getting  free  from  this  responsibility  by  telling  a 
vrhite  lie  or  two  and  persuading  her  to  go  back  to  Naples — that 
thought  never  even  occurred  to  him.  To  shake  off  his  old  com- 
rade Nina  ?  He  certainly  would  have  preferred,  for  many  rea- 
sons, that  she  should  have  taken  to  concert-room  business ;  but 
if  she  were  relying  on  him  for  an  introduction  to  the  lyric  stage, 
why,  he  was  bound  to  help  her  in  every  possible  way.  "  You 
know  you've  got  an  excellent  voice,"  he  continued.  "  And  a 
very  little  stage  training  would  fit  you  for  a  small  part  in  com- 
edy-opera, if  that  is  what  you're  thinking  of,  as  a  beginning. 
But  I  don't  know  that  you  would  like  it,  Nina.  You  see,  you 
would  have  to  become  under-study  for  the  lady  who  has  the 
part  at  present ;  and  they'd  probably  want  you  to  sing  in  the 
chorus ;  and  you'd  get  a  very  small  salary — at  first,  you  know. 


42  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

until  you  were  qualified  to  take  one  of  the  more  important  parts 
— and  then  you  might  get  into  a  travelling  company — " 

"  A  small  part  ?"  said  she,  with  much  cheerfulness.  "  Oh, 
yes;  why  not?     I  must  learn." 

'*  But  I  don't  know  that  you  would  like  it,"  he  said,  still  rue- 
fully. "  You  see,  Nina,  you  might  have  to  dress  in  the  same 
room  with  two  or  three  of  the  chorus-girls — " 

"  And  then  ?"  she  said,  with  a  little  dramatic  gesture,  and  an 
elevation  of  her  beautifully  formed  black  eyebrows.  "  Leo,  you 
never  saw  my  lodgings  with  the  family  Debernardi — you  have 
only  mount  the  stairs — " 

"  ^ty  goodness,  Nina,  I  could  guess  what  the  inside  of  the 
rooms  was  like,  if  they  were  anything  like  those  interminable 
and  horrid  stairs  !"  he  exclaimed,  with  a  laugh.  "  And  you  who 
were  always  so  fond  of  pretty  things,  and  flowers,  and  always 
so  particular  when  we  went  to  a  restaurant — to  live  with  the 
Debernardis !" 

"Ah,  Leo,  you  imagine  not  why?"  she  said,  also  laughing, 
and  when  she  laughed  her  milk  -  white  teeth  shone  merrily. 
"  Old  Pietro  Debernardi  he  lives  in  England  some  years ;  he 
speaks  English,  perhaps  not  very  well,  but  he  speaks ;  then  he 
teach  me  as  he  knows ;  and  when  it  is  possible  1  go  on  the 
Risposta  and  sail  over  to  Capri,  and  all  the  way,  and  all  the  re- 
turn, I  listen,  and  listen,  and  listen  to  the  English  people ;  and 
I  remember,  and  I  practise  alone  in  my  own  room,  and  I  say, 
*  Leo,  he  must  not  ridicule  me,  when  I  go  to  England.'  " 

"  Ridicule  you  !"  said  he,  indignantly.  "  I  wish  I  could'speak 
Italian  as  freely  as  you  speak  English,  Nina !" 

*'  Oh,  you  speak  Italian  very  well,"  said  she.  "  But  why  you 
speak  still  the  Neapolitan  dialctto — dialect,  is  it  right? — that 
you  hear  in  the  shops  and  the  streets  ?  Ah,  I  remember  you 
are  so  proud  of  it,  and  when  I  try  to  teach  you  proper  Italian, 
you  laugh — you  wish  to  speak  like  Sabetta  Debernardi,  and  Gia- 
como,  and  the  others.  That  is  the  fault  to  learn  by  ear,  instead 
of  the  books  correctly.     And  you  liave  not  forgotten  yet !" 

"  Well,  Nina,"  he  resumed, "  I  don't  seem  to  have  fright- 
ened you  with  the  possibility  of  your  having  to  dress  in  the 
same  room  with  two  or  three  chorus-girls  whom  you  don't  know  ; 
and  in  fact,  if  I  happened  to  be  acquainted  with  the  theatre,  I 
dare  say  I  could  get  the  manager  to  make  sure  you  were  to 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  43 

dross  along  witli  some  nice  girl,  who  would  show  you  how  to 
make-up,  and  all  that.  But  you  would  get  a  very  small  salary 
to  begin  with,  Nina ;  perhaps  only  thirty  shillings  a  week — and 
an  extra  pound  a  week  when  you  had  to  take  up  your  under- 
study duties — however,  that  need  not  trouble  you,  because  we 
are  old  comrades,  Nina,  and  while  you  are  in  England  my  purse 
is  yours — " 

She  looked  at  him  doubtfully. 

"  Ah,  you  don't  understand,"  he  said,  gently.  "  It's  only  this, 
Nina :  I  have  plenty  of  money  ;  if  you  are  a  good  comrade  and 
a  good  friend,  you  will  take  from  me  what  you  want — always — 
at  any  moment — " 

The  pretty,  pale-olive  face  flushed  quickly,  and  for  a  brief 
second  she  glanced  at  him  with  grateful  eyes ;  but  it  was  per- 
haps to  cover  her  embarrassment  that  she  now  rose  from  the 
piano,  and  pretended  to  be  tired  of  the  music  and  of  these  pro- 
fessional schemes. 

"  It  is  enough  of  booziness,"  she  said,  lightly  ;  "  come,  Leo, 
will  you  go  for  a  small  walk  ? — have  you  time  ?" 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  have  time,"  said  he,  "  but  you  must  not  say  boozi- 
ness, Nina ;  it  is  bizness. 

'■'■Beezness! — beeznessP''  she  said,  smiling.  "It  is  enough  of 
beezness.  You  go  for  a  walk  with  me — yes  ?  How  beautiful 
the  weather !"  she  continued,  in  a  suddenly  altered  tone,  as  she 
looked  out  at  the  sunlit  foliage  of  the  Green  Park ;  and  then 
she  murmured,  almost  to  herself,  in  those  soft  Italian  vowel 
sounds : 

"  Ah,  Leo  mio,  che  sarei  felice  d'essere  in  campagna !" 

It  was  a  kind  of  sigh ;  perhaps  that  was  the  reason  she  had 
inadvertently  relapsed  into  her  own  tongue.  And  as  they  went 
down  the  stairs,  and  he  opened  the  door  for  her,  the  few  words 
he  addressed  to  her  were  also  in  Italian. 

"  The  country  !"  he  said.  "  We  will  just  step  across  the  street, 
Nina,  and  you  will  find  yourself  in  what  is  quite  as  pretty  as 
the  country  at  this  time  of  year.  You  may  fancy  yourself  sit- 
ting in  the  Villa  Reale,  if  you  could  only  have  a  flash  of  blue 
sea  underneath  the  branches  of  the  trees." 

But  when  they  had  crossed  over  and  got  into  the  compara- 
tive quiet  of  the  Park,  she  resolutely  returned  to  her  English 
again ;  and  now  she  was  telling  him  about  the  people  in  Naples 


44  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

whom  he  used  to  know,  and  of  their  various  fortunes  and  cir- 
cumstances. Sometimes  neither  of  them  spoke ;  for  all  this 
around  them  was  very  still  and  pleasant — the  fresh  foliage  of 
the  trees  and  the  long  lush  grass  of  the  enclosures  as  yet  un- 
dimraed  by  the  summer  dust ;  the  cool  shadows  thrown  by  the 
elms  and  limes  just  moving  as  the  wind  stirred  the  wide  branches ; 
altogether  a  world  of  soft,  clear,  sunny  green,  unbroken  except  by 
here  and  there  a  small  copper  beech  with  its  bronze  leaves  become 
translucent  in  the  hot  light.  It  is  true  that  the  browsing  sheep 
were  abnormally  black ;  and  the  yellow-billed  starlings  had  per- 
haps less  sheen  on  their  feathers  than  they  would  have  had  in 
the  country  ;  nevertheless,  for  a  park  in  the  midst  of  a  great 
city  this  place  was  very  quiet  and  beautiful  and  sylvan ;  and  in- 
deed, when  these  two  sat  down  on  a  couple  of  chairs  under  a 
fragrant  hawthorn,,  Nina's  lustrous  dark  eyes  became  wistful  and 
absent,  and  she  said, 

"  Yes,  Leo,  it  is  as  you  say  in  the  house — it  all  appears  a 
dream." 

"  What  appears  like  a  dream  to  you  ?"  her  companion  asked. 

"  To  be  in  London,  sitting  with  you,  Leo,  and  hearing  you 
speak,"  she  answered,  in  a  low  voice.  "  Often  I  think  of  it — 
often  I  think  of  London — wondering  what  it  is  like — and  I  ask 
myself, '  Will  Leo  be  the  same  after  his  great  renown  ?  Are  we 
friends  as  before  ?'  and  now  I  am  here,  and  London  is  not  dark 
and  terrible  with  smoke,  but  we  sit  in  gardens — oh,  very  beauti- 
ful ! — and  Leo  is  talking  just  as  in  the  old  way — perhaps  it  is  a 
dream  ?"  she  continued,  looking  up  with  a  smile.  "  Perhaps  I 
wake  soon  ?" 

"  Oh,  no,  it  isn't  a  dream,  Nina,"  said  he,  "  only  it  might  pass 
for  one,  for  you  haven't  told  me  how  you  managed  to  get  here. 
It  is  all  a  mystery  to  me.     Where  are  you  staying,  for  example  ?" 

"  My  lodging  ?"  she  said.  "  I  liave  an  apartment  in  the  Res- 
taurant Gianuzzi." 

"  Where  is  that  ?" 

"  Rupert  Street,"  she  answered,  with  a  valiant  effort  at  the 
proper  pronunciation. 

"My  goodness!  what  are  you  doing,  Nina?"  he  said,  almost 
angrily.  "  Living  by  yourself  in  a  foreign  restaurant,  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Leicester  Square !  You'll  have  to  come  out  of 
that  at  once !" 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  45 

"  You  must  not  scold  me,  Leo,"  she  said,  in  rather  a  hurt 
way.     "  How  am  I  to  know  ?" 

"  I  am  not  scolding  you,"  he  said  (indeed,  he  knew  better 
than  to  do  that ;  if  once  the  notion  had  got  into  her  little  head 
that  he  was  really  upbraiding  her,  she  would  have  been  up  and 
ofE  in  a  moment,  proud-lipped,  indignant-eyed,  with  a  fierce  wrong 
rankling  in  her  heart ;  and  weeks  it  might  take  him  to  pet  her 
into  gentleness  again,  even  if  she  did  not  forthwith  set  out  for 
the  South,  resolved  to  return  to  this  harsh,  cold  England  no 
more).  "  I  am  not  scolding  you,  Nina,"  he  said,  quite  gently. 
"  Of  course  you  didn't  know.  And  of  course  you  were  attracted 
by  the  Italian  name — you  thought  you  would  feel  at  home — " 

"  They  are  very  nice  people,  yes,  yes  !"  she  said — and  still  she 
was  inclined  to  hold  her  head  erect,  and  her  mouth  was  a  little 
proud  and  offended. 

"  Very  likely  indeed,"  he  said,  with  great  consideration,  "  but, 
you  see,  Nina,  a  single  young  lady  can't  stay  at  a  restaurant  by 
herself,  without  knowing  some  one,  some  one  to  go  about  with 
her—" 

"  Why,"  she  said,  vehemently,  almost  scornfully,  "  you  think 
I  not  know  that !  An  Italian  girl — and  not  know  that !  Last 
night,  hour  after  hour,  I  sit  and  think, '  Oh,  there  is  Leo  singing 
now — if  I  may  go  to  the  theatre  ! — to  sit  and  hear  him — and 
think  of  the  old  days — and  perhaps  to  write  home  to  the  maes- 
tro, and  tell  him  of  the  grand  fame  of  his  scholar.'  But  no.  I 
cannot  go  out.  There  is  no  time  yet  to  see  about  chaperon. 
When  it  comes  eleven  hour,  I  say, '  The  theatre  is  ceased ;'  and 
I  go  to  bed.  Then  this  morning  I  know  no  person  ;  I  say, '  Very 
well,  I  go  and  see  Leo ;  he  will  understand ;  it  is  how  I  meet 
him  in  the  Chiaja,  and  he  says, '  Good-morning,  Nina ;  shall  we 
go  for  a  little  walk  out  to  Pozzuoli ' — it  is  just  the  same." 

"  Yes,  I  understand  well  enough,  Nina,"  said  he,  good-natured- 
ly, "  and  I  wasn't  scolding  you  when  I  said  you  must  get  some 
better  place  to  stay  at  while  you  are  in  London.  Well,  now, 
I  am  going  to  tell  you  something.  I  don't  know  much  about 
what  actors  and  actresses  are  in  Italy,  but  here  in  England  they 
are  exceedingly  generous  to  any  of  their  number  who  have  fallen 
into  misfortune ;  and  a  case  of  the  kind  happened  a  little  while 
ago.  An  actor,  who  used  to  be  well  known,  died  quite  sudden- 
ly and  left  his  widow  entirely  unprovided  for ;  whereupon  there 


46  PRINCE    FOKTUNATUS. 

was  a  subscription  got  up  for  her,  aud  a  morning  performance, 
too,  in  which  nearly  all  the  leading  actors  and  actresses  man- 
aged to  do  something  or  other ;  and  the  result  is  that  they  have 
been  able  to  take  the  lease  of  a  house  in  Sloane  Street,  and  fur- 
nish the  rooms  for  her,  and  she  is  to  earn  her  living  by  keeping 
lodgers.  Now,  if  you  really  want  to  remain  in  London,  Nina, 
don't  you  think  that  might  be  a  comfortable  home  for  you  ? 
She  is  a  very  nice,  ladylike  little  woman ;  and  she's  a  great 
friend  of  mine,  too  ;  she  would  do  everything  she  could  for 
you.  There's  a  chaperon  for  you  ready-made ! — for  I'm  afraid 
she  has  only  one  lodger  to  look  after  as  yet,  though  she  has  all 
the  necessary  servants,  and  the  establishment  is  quite  complete. 
What  do  you  say  to  that,  Nina  ?" 

Her  face  had  brightened  up  wonderfully  at  this  proposal. 

"  Yes,  yes,  yes,  Leo  !"  she  said,  instantly.  "  Tell  me  how  I 
go,  and  I  go  at  once,  to  ask  her  if  she  can  give  me  apartments." 

He  glanced  at  his  watch. 

"  The  fact  is,"  said  he,  slowly, "  I  was  to  have  lunched  with 
a  very  small  party  to-day — at  a  duchess's  house — at  a  duchess's 
house,  think  of  that,  Nina !" 

She  jumped  to  her  feet  at  once,  and  frankly  held  out  her 
hand. 

"  Forgive  me,  Leo ! — I  retard  you — I  did  not  know." 

"  Don't  be  in  such  a  hurry,  Nina,"  he  said,  as  he  also  rose. 
"  I'm  going  to  break  the  appointment,  that's  all  about  it ;  Sig- 
norina  Antonia  Rossi  doesn't  arrive  in  England  every  day.  I'll 
tell  you  what  we  have  got  to  do :  we  will  get  into  a  hansom  and 
drive  to  a  telegraph-office,  and  I'll  get  rid  of  that  engagement ; 
then  we'll  go  on  to  the  Restaurant  Gianuzzi,  and  you  and  I  will 
have  a  little  luncheon  by  ourselves,  just  to  prepare  us  for  the 
fatigues  of  the  day ;  then  you  will  get  your  things  ready,  and 
I  will  take  you  down  to  Mrs.  Grey's  in  Sloane  Street,  and  intro- 
duce you  to  that  most  estimable  little  lady ;  and  then,  if  Mrs. 
Grey  happens  to  be  disengaged  for  the  evening,  she  might  be 
induced  to  come  with  you  to  the  New  Theatre,  and  she  could 
take  you  safe  home  after  the  performance.  How  will  that  do, 
Nina?" 

"You  always  were  kind  to  me,  Leo,"  she  said — though  the 
gratitude  plainly  shining  in  the  gentle,  dark  eyes  rendered  the 
words  quite  uimeccssary. 


PRINCE    FORTUNATCS.  47 

And  indeed  she  was  dcliglited,  with  a  sort  of  childish  delight, 
to  sit  in  this  swift  hansom,  bowling  along  the  smooth  thorough- 
fare ;  and  she  chatted  and  chattered  in  her  gay,  rapid,  discon- 
nected fashion  ;  and  she  had  nothing  but  contempt  for  the  shab- 
by Neapolitan  fiacre  and  the  jolting  streets  that  Leo  of  course 
remembered ;  and  when  at  last  she  found  herself  and  her  com- 
panion of  old  days  seated  at  a  small,  clean,  bright  window-table 
in  the  Restaurant  Gianuzzi — they  being  the  only  occupants  of 
the  long  saloon — she  fairly  clapped  her  little  hands  together  in 
her  gladness.  And  then  how  pretty  she  looked !  She  had  re- 
moved her  bonnet ;  and  the  light  from  the  window,  falling  on 
the  magnificent  masses  of  her  jet-black  hair  gave  it  almost  a 
blue  sheen  in  places ;  while  here  and  there — about  the  wax-like 
ear,  for  example,  a  tiny  ringlet  had  got  astray,  and  its  soft  dark- 
ness against  the  olive  complexion  seemed  to  heighten  the  clear, 
pure  pallor  of  the  oval  cheek.  And  now  all  doubts  as  to  how 
Leo  might  receive  her  had  fled  from  her  mind ;  they  were  on 
the  old,  familiar  terms  again  ;  and  she  followed  with  an  eager 
and  joyous  interest  all  that  he  had  to  say  to  her.  Then  how 
easily  could  she  accentuate  her  sympathetic  listening  with  this 
expressive  face !  The  mobile,  somewhat  large,  beautifully  formed 
mouth,  the  piquant  little  nose  with  its  sensitive  nostrils,  the  elo- 
quent dark  eyes  could  just  say  anything  she  pleased ;  though, 
to  be  sure,  however  varying  her  mood  might  be,  in  accordance 
with  what  she  heard  and  what  was  demanded  of  her,  her  normal 
expression  was  one  of  an  almost  childish  and  happy  content. 
She  poured  her  glass  of  Chianti  into  a  tumbler,  and  filled  that 
up  with  water,  and  sipped  it  as  a  canary  sips.  She  made  little 
pellets  of  bread  with  her  dainty  white  fingers — but  that  was  in 
forgetfulness — that  was  in  her  eagerness  of  listening.  And  at 
last  she  said, 

"  What  is  it,  Leo  ? — you  wish  to  frighten  me  with  your  trials  ? 
— no  !  for  now  you  laugh  at  all  these  —  these  mortifications. 
Then  a  man  is  proud — he  is  sensitive — he  is  not  patient  as  a 
woman — oh,  you  think  you  frighten  me  ? — no,  no  !" 

The  fact  is,  he  began  to  see  more  and  more  clearly  that  she 
was  resolved  upon  trying  her  fortune  on  the  lyric  stage  ;  and  he 
thought  it  his  duty  to  let  her  know  very  distinctly  what  she 
would  have  to  encounter.  He  did  not  exactly  try  to  dissuade 
her ;  but  he  gave  her  a  general  idea  of  what  she  might  expect, 


48  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

and  tliat  in  not  too  roseate  colors.  His  chief  difficulty,  how- 
ever, was  this :  he  was  possessed  by  a  vague  feeling  that  there 
might  be  some  awkwardness  in  having  Antonia  Rossi  engaged 
at  the  same  theatre  with  himself ;  and  yet,  looking  round  all  the 
light  operas  then  being  performed,  he  had  honestly  to  confess 
that  the  only  part  Nina  could  aspire  to  take,  with  her  present 
imperfect  pronunciation  of  English,  was  that  of  the  young  French 
officer  played  at  the  New  Theatre  by  Mile,  Girond.  Nor  did  it 
lessen  his  embarrassment  to  find,  as  soon  as  he  mentioned  this 
possibility,  that  to  join  the  New  Theatre  was  precisely  what 
Signorina  Rossi  desired. 

"  I  don't  think  there  would  be  much  difficulty  about  it,  Nina," 
he  was  forced  to  admit — carefully  concealing  his  reluctance  the 
while.  "  Lehmann,  that  is  our  manager,  is  talking  about  getting 
up  a  second  travelling  company,  for  the  opera  is  so  popular 
everywhere ;  and  there  is  to  be  a  series  of  rehearsals  of  under- 
studies beginning  next  Monday,  and  you  could  see  all  the  coach- 
ing going  on.  Then  you  could  sit  in  front  at  night,  and  watch 
Mile.  Girond's  '  business  :'  how  would  you  like  that,  Nina  ? — 
whether  what  she  does  is  clever  or  stupid,  you  would  have  to 
copy  it ;  the  public  would  expect  that — " 

"  Why  not  ?"  Nina  said,  with  a  pleasant  smile.  "  Why  not  ? 
I  learn.     She  knows  more  ;  why  I  not  learn  ?" 

"  It's  a  shame  to  throw  away  a  fine  voice  like  yours  on  a  small 
part  in  comic  opera,"  he  said — still  w;th  vague  dreams  before 
him  of  a  concert-room  career  for  her. 

"  But  I  must  begin,"  said  she,  with  much  practical  common- 
sense,  "  and  while  I  am  in  the  small  part,  1  learn  to  act,  I  learn 
the  stage-affair,  I  learn  better  English,  to  the  end  of  having  a 
place  more  important.  Why,  Leo,  you  are  too  careful  of  me ! 
At  Naples  I  work  hard,  I  am  a  slave  to  old  Pandiani — I  suffer 
everything — can  I  not  work  hard  here  in  London  ?  You  think 
I  am  an  infant  ?    Certainly  I  am  not — no,  no — I  am  old — old — " 

"  But  light-hearted  still,  Nina,"  he  said,  for  she  was  clearly 
bent  on  laughing  away  his  fears.  Then  he  looked  at  her,  with 
a  little  hesitation.  "  There's  another  thing,  Nina  ;  about  the 
costume." 

*'  Yes  ?"  she  asked,  innocently. 

"  I  don't  know — whether  you  would  quite  like — but  I'll  show 
you  Mile,  Girond's  dress  anyway — then  you  can  judge  for  your- 


PRINCE    F0ETUNATU8.  49 

self,"  said  he.  He  called  the  waiter.  He  scribbled  on  a  piece 
of  paper,  "  Photograph  of  Mile.  Girond  as  Capitaine  Crepin  in 
*  The  Squire's  Daughter.'  "  "  Send  round  to  some  stationer's 
shop,  will  you,  and  get  me  that  ?" 

When  the  messenger  returned  with  the  photograph,  Lionel, 
rather  timidly,  put  it  before  her ;  but,  indeed,  there  was  noth- 
ing in  the  costume  of  Mile.  Girond  to  startle  any  one — the  uni- 
form of  the  boy-officer  was  so  obviously  a  compromise.  Nina 
glanced  at  it  thoughtfully. 

"  Well,  Leo,"  she  said,  looking  up,  "  you  see  no  harm  ?" 

"  Harm  ?"  said  he,  boldly  taking  up  his  cue,  "  of  course  not ! 
It  isn't  like  any  uniform  that  ever  was  known ;  I  suppose  it's 
Mlle.Girond's  own  invention  ;  but,  at  all  events,  there's  nothing 
to  prevent  any  modest  girl  wearing  it.  Why,  I  know  more  than 
one  fashionable  lady  who  would  think  nothing  of  appearing  as 
Rosalind — and  Rosalind's  is  a  real  boy's  dress,  or  ought  to  be — 
and  then  they  haven't  the  excuse  that  an  actor  or  actress  has, 
that  it  is  a  necessity  of  one's  profession.  However,  there's  noth- 
ing to  be  said  about  that  costume,  anyway ;  I  really  had  forgot- 
ten that  Mile.  Girond  had  got  her  pretty  little  blue  coat  made 
with  so  long  a  skirt.  Besides,  Nina,  with  a  voice  like  yours, 
you  will  soon  be  beyond  having  to  take  parts  like  that." 

Indeed,  she  was  so  evidently  anxious  to  obtain  an  engagement 
in  the  same  theatre  that  he  himself  was  engaged  in  that  his  vague 
reluctance  ultimately  vanished ;  and  he  began  considering  when 
he  could  bring  her  before  Mr.  Lehmann,  the  manager,  and  Mr. 
Carey,  the  musical  conductor,  so  that  they  should  hear  her  sing. 
As  to  their  verdict,  as  to  what  the  manager  would  do,  he  had  no 
doubt  whatever.  She  had  a  valuable  voice,  and  her  ignorance 
of  stage  requirements  would  speedily  disappear.  At  the  very 
time  that  Lehmann  was  trying  to  get  new  under-studies  with  a 
view  to  the  formation  of  a  second  travelling  company,  why,  here 
was  a  perfect  treasure  discovered  for  him.  And  Lionel  made 
certain  that,  as  soon  as  Antonia  Rossi  had  had  time  to  study  Mile. 
Girond's  "  business,"  and  perhaps  one  or  two  chances  of  actually 
playing  the  part,  she  would  be  drafted  into  one  or  other  of  the 
travelling  companies,  and  sent  away  through  the  provinces ;  so 
that  any  awkwardness  arising  from  her  being  in  the  same  thea- 
tre with  himself,  and  he  her  only  friend  in  England,  to  whom  she 
would  naturally  appeal  in  any  emergency,  would  thus  be  obviated, 
3 


50  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  Nina,"  said  he,  as  tliey  were  driving  in  a  hansom  to  Sloane 
Street  (all  her  belongings  being  on  the  top  of  the  cab),  "  Leh- 
mann,  our  manager,  is  to  be  at  the  theatre  this  afternoon,  about 
some  scenery,  I  fancy,  and  there's  a  chance  of  our  catching  him  if 
we  went  down  some  little  time  before  the  performance.  Would 
you  come  along  and  sing  one  or  two  things  ?  you  might  have  the 
arrangement  made  at  once." 

"  Will  you  go  with  me,  Leo  ?" 

"  Oh,  yes,"  he  said,  "  I  mean  Mrs.  Grey  will  take  you,  you 
know  ;  for  I  will  try  to  get  places  for  her  and  you  in  front  after- 
wards ;  but  I  will  go  with  you  as  well.     You  won't  be  afraid  ?" 

She  laughed. 

"  Afraid  ? — no,  no — what  I  can  do  I  can  do — there  is  no  Pan- 
diani  to  scold  me  if  they  not  satisfied — that  is  my  own  beezness 
— is  it  right  ? — oh,  I  say  to  you,  Leo,  if  you  hear  Pandiani  when 
I  refuse  to  go  to  Malta — you  think  you  know  the  Neapolitan 
deealet — dialect  ? — no,  it  is  not  good  for  you  to  know  all  the 
wicked  words  of  Naples — and  he  is  old  and  evil-tempered — it 
is  no  matter.  But  in  this  theatre  there  is  no  Pandiani  and  his 
curses — " 

"  No,  no,  not  curses,  Nina,"  he  said.  "  I  see  old  Debernardi 
has  taught  you  some  strange  English.  Of  course  the  maestro 
did  not  use  curses  to  his  favorite  pupil — oh,  yes,  you  were,  Nina, 
a  great  favorite,  though  he  was  always  grumbling  and  growling. 
However,  remember  this,  Nina,  yau  must  sing  youj  best  this 
evening,  and  impress  them  ;  and  I  shouldn't  wonder  if  Lehmann 
gave  you  exceptional  terms." 

*'  More  beezness?^''  she  said,  with  a  smile  that  showed  a  gleam 
of  her  pretty  teeth ;  the  sound  of  the  word  had  tickled  her  ear 
somehow ;  more  than  once,  as  the  cab  rolled  away  down  Ken- 
sington wards,  he  could  hear  her  repeat  to  herself — '■^beezness! 
beezness  /" 

This  young  Italian  lady  seemed  to  produce  a  most  favorable 
impression  on  the  little,  pale-faced  widow,  who  appeared  to  be 
very  grateful  to  Lionel  Moore  for  having  thought  of  her.  The 
ground-floor  sitting-room  and  bedroom,  she  explained,  were  oc- 
cupied by  her  sole  lodger ;  the  young  lady  could  have  the  choice 
of  any  of  the  apartments  above.  The  young  lady,  as  it  turned 
out,  was  startled  beyond  measure  at  the  price  she  was  asked  to 
pay  (which,  in  truth,  was  quite  moderate,  for  the  rooms  were 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  51 

good  rooms,  in  a  good  situation,  and  neatly  furnished),  and  it 
■was  only  on  Lionel's  insisting  on  it  that  she  consented  to  take 
the  apartments  on  the  second  floor. 

"  I  beg  you  not  miscomprehend,"  Nina  said,  somewhat  ear- 
nestly, to  the  little  landlady  (for  was  she  not  a  friend  of  Leo's?). 
"  The  price  is,  perhaps,  not  too  large  —  it  is  to  me  that  it  is 
large — " 

"  Oh,  that's  all  right,  Nina,"  Lionel  broke  in  ;  "  that's  all  set- 
tled. You  see,  Mrs.  Grey,  Miss  Rossi  has  come  over  here  to  get 
an  engagement  in  comedy-opera,  or  perhaps  to  sing  at  concerts ; 
and  if  a  manager  calls  to  see  her  on  business,  why,  of  course, 
she  must  be  in  decent  rooms.  You  can't  go  and  live  in  a  slum. 
Mrs.  Grey  knows  what  managers  are,  Nina ;  you  must  take  up  a 
good  position  and  hold  your  own;  and  —  and,  in  fact,  Nina, 
when  you  are  in  London  you  can't  afford  to  go  and  climb  those 
frightful  Neapolitan  stairs  and  hide  yourself  in  a  garret.  So 
it's  settled  ;  and  I'm  going  out  directly  to  hire  a  piano  for  you." 

"  For  how  much  expense,  Leo?"  she  said,  anxiously. 

"  Oh,  we'll  see  about  that  by  and  by,"  said  he. 

He  then  explained  to  Mrs.  Grey  that  Miss  Nina  was  that  very 
evening  going  along  to  the  New  Theatre  to  be  heard  by  the 
manager  and  the  conductor ;  that  thereafter  she  wished  to  see 
the  performance  of  "  The  Squire's  Daughter,"  in  which  she  hoped 
ere  long  to  take  a  part  herself  ;  and  that,  if  Mrs.  Grey  could  find 
it  convenient  to  accompany  the  young  lady,  it  would  be  a  very 
great  obligation  to  him,  Mr.  Moore.  Mrs.  Grey  replied  to  this 
that  her  solitary  lodger  had  gone  down  to  Richmond  for  two  or 
three  days  ;  she  herself  had  no  engagement  of  any  kind  for  that 
evening ;  and  when,  she  asked,  did  any  one  ever  hear  of  an  old 
actress  refusing  an  invitation  to  go  to  the  theatre  ? 

"  So  that's  all  settled,  too,"  said  this  young  man,  who  seemed 
to  be  carrying  everything  his  own  way. 

Then  he  went  out  and  hired  a  piano — necessarily  a  small  up- 
right— which  was  to  be  taken  down  to  Sloane  Street  that  same 
evening ;  next  he  sought  out  a  telegraph-office,  and  sent  a  mes- 
sage to  Mr.  Lehmann  and  to  Mr.  Carey ;  finally  he  called  at  a 
florist's,  and  bought  a  whole  heap  of  flowers  for  the  better  dec- 
oration of  Signorina  Rossi's  new  apartments.  In  this  last  affair 
he  was  really  outrageously  extravagant,  even  for  one  who  was 
habitually  careless  about  his  expenditure  ;  but  he  said  to  himself, 


53  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  Well,  I  throw  away  lots  of  money  in  compliments  to  people 
who  are  quite  indifferent  to  me  ;  and  why  shouldn't  I  allow  my- 
self a  little  latitude  when  it  is  my  old  comrade  Nina  who  has 
come  over  to  England  ?" 

When  at  length  he  got  back  to  the  house  he  found  it  would 
soon  be  time  for  them  to  be  thinking  of  getting  down  to  the 
theatre  ;  so  he  said, 

"  Now,  look  here,  Mrs.  Grey,  when  Miss  Nina  has  done  with 
her  singing  and  her  talk  with  the  manager,  you  must  take  her 
to  some  restaurant  and  get  some  dinner  for  both  of  you,  for  you 
can't  go  on  without  anything  until  eleven.  You  will  just  have 
time  before  the  performance  begins.  I'm  sorry  I  can't  take  you  ; 
but,  you  see,  as  soon  as  I  hear  what  the  manager  says,  I  must  be 
off  to  dress  for  my  part.  Then,  at  the  end  of  the  performance, 
I  can't  ask  you  to  wait  for  me  ;  you  will  have  to  bring  her  home, 
either  in  a  cab  or  by  the  Underground,  for  Nina  is  very  econom- 
ical. I  hope  you  won't  think  I  am  treating  you  ill  in  leaving 
you  to  yourselves — " 

"  Why,  Leo,  you  have  given  up  the  whole  day  to  me  !"  Nina 
exclaimed. 

"  You  gave  up  many  an  afternoon  to  me,  Nina,"  he  rejoined, 
"  when  I  sprained  my  ankle  down  at  that  confounded  Castello 
Deir  Ovo." 

The  ordeal  that  the  debutante  had  now  to  undergo  was,  of 
course,  made  remarkably  easy  for  her  through  the  intervention 
of  this  good  friend  of  hers.  When  they  got  down  to  the  thea- 
tre they  went  at  once  on  to  the  stage,  where  Nma  found  herself 
in  the  midst  of  an  old-fashioned  English  village,  with  a  gayly 
bedecked  Maypole  just  behind  her,  while  in  front  of  her  was  the 
great,  gaunt,  empty,  musty-smelling  building,  filled  with  a  dim 
twilight,  though,  also,  there  were  here  and  there  one  or  two 
orange-points  of  gas.  Lionel  sent  a  messenger  to  the  manager's 
office,  and  also  told  him  to  ask  if  Mr.  Carey  had  come ;  then  he 
opened  Nina's  roll  of  music  for  her,  and  began  to  discuss  with 
her  which  piece  she  should  choose.  Fortunately  Mr.  Lehmann 
had  not  yet  left — here  he  was — a  stout,  clean-shaven,  sharp-eyed 
sort  of  person,  in  a  frock-coat  and  a  remarkably  shiny  hat ;  he 
glanced  at  the  young  lady  in  what  she  considered  a  very  rude 
and  unwarrantable  manner,  but  the  fact  was  he  was  merely,  from 
a  business  point  of  view,  trying  to  guess  what  her  figure  was 


PRINCE    F0RTUNATU8.  53 

like.  Lionel  explained  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case  to  him, 
and  gave  it  as  his  own  confident  opinion  that,  as  soon  as  they 
had  heard  Mile.  Rossi  sing,  there  would  be  little  doubt  of  her 
being  engaged.  At  the  same  moment  Mr.  Carey  appeared — a 
tall,  blond,  extremely  handsome  person  of  the  fashion-plate  sort; 
and,  at  a  word  from  the  manager,  two  or  three  scene-shifters 
went  and  wheeled  on  to  the  stage  a  small  upright  piano. 

Nina  did  not  seem  at  all.disconcerted  by  their  business-like  air 
and  want  of  little  formal  politenesses.  Quite  calmly  she  took  out 
"  Caro  nome  "  from  her  music  and  handed  it  to  the  conductor, 
who  was  at  the  piano.  He  glanced  at  the  sheet,  appeared  a 
little  surprised,  but  struck  the  opening  chords  for  her.  Then 
Nina  sang ;  and  though  for  a  second  or  two  the  sound  of  her 
own  voice  in  this  huge,  empty  building  seemed  strange — seemed 
wrong  almost  and  unnatural — she  had  speedily  recovered  confi- 
dence, and  was  determined  she  would  bring  no  discredit  upon 
her  friend  Leo.  Very  well  indeed  she  sang,  and  Lionel  was  de- 
lighted ;  while,  of  course,  Mr.  Carey  was  professionally  interested 
in  hearing  for  the  first  time  a  voice  so  fresh  and  pure  and  so  perfect- 
ly trained ;  but  when  she  had  finished  the  manager  merely  said, 

"  Thank  you,  that  will  do ;  I  needn't  trouble  you  further." 
Then,  after  a  word  or  two,  partly  aside,  with  Mr.  Carey,  he  turned 
to  Lionel  and  abruptly  asked  what  salary- she  wanted — just  as  if 
Lionel  had  brought  him  some  automaton  and  made  it  work. 

"■  I  think  you  ought  to  give  her  a  very  good  salary,"  the  young 
man  said,  in  an  undertone  ;  "  she  has  studied  under  Pandiani  at 
Naples.  And  if  I  were  you  I  wouldn't  ask  her  to  sing  in  the 
chorus  at  all ;  I  would  rather  keep  a  voice  like  that  fresh  and 
unvvorked  until  she  is  fit  to  take  a  part." 

"  Singing  in  the  chorus  won't  hurt  her,"  said  he,  briefly,  "  for 
a  while,  at  least,  and  she'll  become  familiar  with  the  stage." 

But  here  Lionel  drew  the  manager  still  further  aside ;  and 
then  ensued  a  conversation  which  neither  Nina  nor  Mr.  Carey 
could  in  the  least  overhear.  At  the  end  of  it  Mr.  Lehmann  nod- 
ded acquiescence,  and  said,  "  Very  well,  then  ;"  and  straightway 
he  departed,  for  he  was  a  busy  man,  and  had  little  time  to  waste 
on  the  smaller  courtesies  of  life — especially  in  the  case  of  de- 
butantes. 

Lionel  returned  to  the  young  lady  whose  fate  had  just  been 
decided. 


54  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  That's  all  right,  Nina,"  he  said,  "  You  are  engaged  as  under- 
study to  Mile.  Girond,  and  you'll  have  three  pounds  a  week  as  soon 
as  you  have  studied  her  business  and  are  ready  to  take  the  part 
when  you're  wanted.  I  will  find  you  a  full  score,  and  you  may 
get  up  some  of  the  other  music,  when  you've  nothing  better  to 
do.  The  rehearsals  of  the  under-studies  begin  on  Monday — but 
I'll  see  you  before  then  and  let  you  know  all  about  it.  You 
won't  mind  my  running  away?  —  I'm  on  in  the  first  scene. 
There  is  Mrs.  Grey  waiting  for  you — you  must  go  and  get  some- 
thing to  eat — and  when  you  come  back,  call  at  the  stage-door, 
and  you'll  find  an  envelope  waiting  for  you,  with  two  places  in 
it — the  dress  circle,  if  it  can  be  managed,  for  I  want  you  to  be 
some  distance  away  from  the  orchestra.     Good-bye,  Nina !" 

She  held  his  hand  for  a  moment. 

"  Leo,  I  thank  you,"  she  said,  regarding  him  with  her  dark 
eyes ;  and  then  he  smiled  and  waved  another  farewell  to  her  as 
he  disappeared ;  and  she  was  left  to  make  her  way  with  her  pa- 
tient chaperon  out  of  this  great,  hollow,  portentous  building, 
that  was  now  resounding  with  mysterious  clankings  and  calls. 

And  it  was  from  a  couple  of  seats  in  the  back  of  the  dress- 
circle  that  Mrs.  Grey  and  her  young  charge  heard  the  comedy- 
opera  of  "  The  Squire's  Daughter ;"  and  Lionel  knew  they  were 
there ;  and  no  doubt  he  sang  his  best — for,  if  Nina  had  been 
showing  off  what  she  could  do  in  the  morning,  why  should  he 
not  show  off  now,  amid  all  these  added  glories  of  picturesque 
costumes  and  surroundings  ?  Nina  was  in  an  extraordinary  state 
of  excitement,  which  she  was  unable  altogether  to  conceal.  Mrs. 
Grey  could  hear  the  little,  muttered  exclamations  in  Italian  ;  she 
could  see  how  intently  that  expressive  face  followed  the  prog- 
ress of  the  piece,  reflecting  its  every  movement,  as  it  were ;  she 
cauglit  a  glimpse  of  tears  on  the  long,  dark  lashes  when  Lionel 
was  singing,  with  impassioned  fervor,  his  love-lorn  serenade ; 
and  then  the  next  moment  she  was  astonished  by  the  vehemence 
of  the  girl's  delight  when  the  vast  house  thundered  forth  its  ap- 
plause— indeed,  Nina  herself  was  clapping  her  hands  furiously, 
to  join  in  the  universal  roar  of  a  recall — she  was  laughing  with 
joy — she  appeared  to  have  gone  mad.  Then,  at  the  end  of  the 
second  act,  she  said,  quickly, 

"  Mrs.  Grey,  can  I  send  to  him  a  note  ?  —  is  there  letter- 
paper  ?" 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  55 

"  Well,  my  dear,  if  we  go  into  the  refreshment-room  and  have 
a  cup  of  tea,  perhaps  one  of  the  young  ladies  could  give  us  a 
sheet  of  writing-paper." 

iVnd  thus  it  was  that  Lionel,  when  he  was  leaving  the  theatre 
that  night,  found  a  neatly  folded  little  note  awaiting  him.  Ue 
was  in  a  considerable  hurry ;  for  he  had  to  go  home  and  dress 
and  get  off  to  a  crush  in  Grosvenor  Square,  where  he  hoped  to 
find  Lady  Adela  Cunyngham,  her  sisters,  and  Miss  Georgie  Le- 
strange  (there  was  some  talk  of  an  immediate  presentation  of 
the  little  pastoral  comedy),  so  that  he  had  only  time  to  glance 
over  Nina's  nervously  pencilled  scrawl.     Thus  it  ran  : 

"Leo,  it  is  magnificent,  it  is  splendid,  you  are  a  true  artist;  to-morrow  I 
write  to  Pandiani,  he  will  be  overjoyed  as  I  am.  But  Miss  Burgoyne — 710, 
no,  no — she  is  not  artist  at  all — she  is  negligent  of  her  part,  of  the  others  in 
the  scene — she  puts  up  her  fan  and  talks  to  you  from  behind  it — why  you 
allow  that  ?  —  it  is  insult  to  the  public  !  She  believes  not  her  part  and 
makes  all  the  rest  false.  What  a  shame  to  you,  Leo ;  but  your  splendid 
voice,  your  fine  timbre,  carries  everything  !  Bravo,  my  Leo !  It  is  a  great 
trionf,  brilliant,  beautiful,  and  Nina  is  proud  of  her  friend.    Good-night  from 

"Nina." 

As  Lionel  was  spinning  along  Piccadilly  in  his  swift  hansom, 
it  occurred  to  him  that  if  Nina  were  going  to  join  the  "  Squire's 
Daughter  "  company,  it  might  be  just  as  well  for  her  not  to  have 
any  preconceived  antipathy  against  Miss  Burgoyne.  For  Miss 
Burgoyne  was  an  important  person  at  the  New  Theatre. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

COUNTRY    AND    TOWN. 


On  this  Sunday  morning,  when  all  the  good  people  had  gone 
to  church,  there  was  no  sign  of  life  on  these  far-stretching  Win- 
stead  Downs.  The  yellow  roads  intersecting  the  undulations  of 
black-and-golden  gorse  were  undisturbed  by  even  a  solitary 
tramp ;  so  that  Lionel  Moore  and  his  friend  Mangan,  as  they 
idly  walked  along,  seemed  to  be  the  sole  possessors  of  the  spa- 
cious landscape.  It  was  a  beautiful  morning,  warm  and  clear 
and  sunny ;  a  southerly  breeze  stirred  the  adjacent  elms  into  a 
noise  as  of  the  sea,  caused  the  chestnuts  to  wave  their  great 
branches  bearing  thousands  of  milky  minarets,  and  sent  waves 


56  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

of  shadows  across  the  silken  gray-green  of  a  field  of  rye.  There 
was  a  windmill  on  a  distant  height,  its  long  arms  motionless,  A 
strip  of  Scotch  firs  stood  black  and  near  at  one  portion  of  the 
horizon ;  but  elsewhere  the  successive  lines  of  wood  and  hill 
faded  away  into  the  south,  becoming  of  a  paler  and  paler  hue 
until  they  disappeared  in  a  silvery  mist.  The  air  was  sweet  with 
the  resinous  scent  of  the  furze.  In  short,  it  was  a  perfect  day 
in  early  June,  on  a  wide,  untenanted,  high-lying  Surrey  common. 

And  Maurice  Mangan,  in  his  aimless,  desultory  fashion,  was 
inveighing  against  the  vanity  of  the  life  led  by  certain  classes 
in  the  great  Babylon  out  of  which  he  had  just  haled  his  rather 
unwilling  friend ;  and  describing  their  mad  and  frantic  efforts 
to  wrest  themselves  free  of  the  demon  ennui  ;  and  their  ceaseless, 
eager  clamor  for  hurry  and  excitement,  lest,  in  some  unguarded 
moment  of  silence,  their  souls  should  speak. 

"  It  is  quite  a  fallacy,"  he  was  saying,  as  he  walked  carelessly 
onwards,  his  head  thrown  forward  a  little,  his  hands  clasped  be- 
hind his  back,  his  stick  trailing  after  him,  "  it  is  altogether  a 
fallacy  to  talk  of  the  *  complaining  millions  of  men '  who  '  dark- 
en in  labor  and  pain.'  It  is  the  hard-working  millions  of  man- 
kind who  arc  the  happiest ;  their  constant  labor  brings  content ; 
the  riddle  of  the  painful  eai'th  doesn't  vex  them — they  have  no 
leisure ;  they  don't  fear  the  hour  of  sleep — they  welcome  it.  It 
is  the  rich,  who  find  time  drag  remorselessly  on  their  hands,  who 
have  desperately  to  invent  occupations  and  a  whirl  of  amuse- 
ments, who  keep  pursuing  shadows  they  can  never  lay  hold  of, 
who  are  really  in  a  piteous  case ;  and  I  suppose  you  take  credit 
to  yourself,  Linn,  my  boy,  that  you  are  one  of  the  distractions 
that  help  them  to  lighten  the  unbearable  weariness  of  their  life. 
Well,"  he  continued,  in  his  nimbling  way,  "  it  isn't  quite  what 
I  had  looked  forward  to ;  I  had  looked  forward  to  something 
different  for  you.  I  can  remember,  when  we  used  to  have  our 
long  Sunday  walks  in  those  days,  what  splendid  ambitions  you 
had  for  yourself,  and  how  you  were  all  burning  to  begin — the 
organist  of  Winstead  Church  was  to  produce  his  Hallelujah 
Chorus,  and  the  nations  were  to  listen;  and  the  other  night, 
when  I  was  in  your  room  at  the  theatre,  when  I  saw  you  smear- 
ing your  face  and  decking  yourself  out  for  exhibition  before  a 
lot  of  fasliionable  idlers,  I  could  not  help  saying  to  myself, 
"And  this  is  wb;it  Linn  Moore  has  come  to!" 


PRINCE    F0RTUNATU8.  57 

''  Yes,  that  is  what  Linn  Moore  Las  come  to,"  tlie  other  said, 
with  entire  good-nature.  "  And  wliat  has  Maurice  Mangan  come 
to  ?  I  can  remember  wlien  Maurice  Mangan  was  to  be  a  great 
poet,  a  great  metaphysician,  a  great — I  don't  know  what.  Win- 
stead  was  far  too  small  a  place  for  him  ;  he  was  to  go  up  and 
conquer  London,  and  do  great  and  wonderful  things.  And  what 
is  he  now  ? — a  reporter  of  the  gabble  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons." 

"  I  suppose  I  am  a  failure,"  said  this  tall,  thin,  contemplative- 
looking  man,  who  spoke  quite  dispassionately  of  himself,  just  as 
he  spoke  with  a  transparent  honesty  and  simplicity  of  his  friend. 
"  But  at  least  I  have  kept  myself  to  myself.  I  haven't  sold  my- 
self over  to  the  Moloch  of  fashion — " 

"  Oh,  your  dislike  of  fashionable  people  is  a  mere  bundle  of 
prejudice !"  Lionel  cried.  "  The  truth  is,  Maurice,  you  don't 
know  those  fashionable  people  you  seem  to  despise  so  heartily. 
If  you  did,  you  would  discover  that  they  had  the  ordinary  hu- 
man qualities  of  other  people — only  that  they  are  better  edu- 
cated and  more  courteous  and  pleasant  in  manner.  Then  their 
benevolence — if  you  knew  how  much  they  give  away  in  charity — " 

"  Benevolence  !"  Mangan  broke  in,  impatiently.  "  What  is  be- 
nevolence ?  It  is  generally  nothing  more  or  less  than  an  ex- 
pression of  your  own  satisfaction  with  yourself.  You  are 
stuffed  with  food  and  wine ;  your  purse  is  gorged ;  '  here's  a 
handful  of  sovereigns  for  you,  you  poor  devil  crouching  at  the 
corner !'  What  merit  is  in  that  ?  Do  you  call  that  a  virtue  ? 
But  where  charity  really  becomes  a  heroism,  Linn,  is  when  a 
poor,  suffering,  neuralgic  woman,  without  any  impulse  from 
abundance  of  health  or  abundance  of  comfort,  sets  laboriously 
to  work  to  do  what  she  can  for  her  fellow-creatures.  Then  that 
is  something  to  regard — that  is  something  to  admire — " 

Lionel  burst  out  laughing. 

"  A  very  pretty  description  of  Francie  Wright !"  he  cried. 
"  Francie  a  poor,  suffering,  wretched  woman — because  she  hap- 
pened to  have  a  touch  of  neuralgia  the  last  Sunday  you  were 
down  here  !  There's  very  little  of  the  poor  and  suffering  about 
Francie  ;  she's  as  contented  and  merry  a  lass  as  you'd  find  any- 
where." 

Mangan  was  silent  for  a  second  or  two ;  and  then  he  said, 
with  a  little  hesitation. 


58  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  Didn't  you  tell  me  Miss  Wright  had  not  been  up  yet  to  see 
'  The  Squire's  Daughter  ?'  " 

"  No,  she  has  not,"  Lionel  answered,  lightly.  "  I  don't  know 
whether  you  have  been  influencing  her,  Maurice,  or  whether  you 
have  picked  up  some  of  her  highly  superior  prejudices;  any- 
how, I  rather  fancy  she  doesn't  quite  approve  of  the  theatre — I 
mean,  I  don't  think  she  approves  of  the  New  Theatre,  for  she'd 
go  to  any  other  one  fast  enough,  I  suppose,  if  you  could  only 
get  her  away  from  her  sick  children.  But  not  the  New  Theatre, 
apparently.  Perhaps  she  doesn't  care  to  see  me  making  myself 
a  motley  to  the  view." 

"  She  has  a  great  regard  for  you,  Linn.  I  wouldn't  call  her 
opinions  prejudices,"  Mangan  said — but  with  the  curious  diffi- 
dence he  displayed  whenever  he  spoke  of  Lionel's  cousin. 

"  Oh,  Francie  should  have  lived  in  the  fifteenth  century — she 
would  have  been  a  follower  of  Savonarola,"  Lionel  said,  with  a 
laugh.     "  She's  far  too  exalted  for  these  present  days." 

"  Well,  Linn,"  said  his  friend,  "  I'm  glad  you  know  at  least 
one  person  who  has  some  notion  of  duty  and  self-sacrifice,  who 
has  some  fineness  of  perception  and  some  standard  of  conduct 
and  aim  to  go  by.  Why,  those  people  you  associate  so  much 
with  now  seem  to  have  but  one  pursuit — the  pursuit  of  pleasure, 
the  gratification  of  every  selfish  whim ;  they  seem  to  have  no 
consciousness  of  the  mystery  surrounding  life — of  the  fact  that 
they  themselves  are  inexplicable  phantoms  whose  very  existence 
might  make  them  pause  and  wonder  and  question.  No,  it  is  the 
amassing  of  wealth,  and  the  expending  of  it,  that  is  all  suflS- 
cient.  I  used  to  wonder  why  God  should  have  chosen  the  Jews, 
of  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  for  the  revelation  that  there  was 
something  nobler  than  the  acquisition  of  riches ;  but  I  suppose 
it  was  because  no  race  ever  needed  it  so  much.  And  what  new 
revelation — what  new  message  is  coming  to  the  multitudes  here 
in  Elngland  who  are  living  in  a  paradise  of  sensual  gratification, 
blinded,  besotted,  their  world  a  sort  of  gorgeous  pig-stye — " 

"  Oh,  that's  all  right,"  Lionel  said,  cheerfully.  "  Octavius 
Quirk  has  settled  all  that.  The  cure  for  everything  is  to  be  a 
blowing  of  the  whole  social  fabric  to  bits.  Then  we're  going 
to  begin  again  all  over ;  and  the  New  Jerusalem  will  be  reached 
when  each  man  has  to  dig  for  his  own  potatoes." 

"  Quirk !"  said  Maurice  Mangan,  contemptuously  ;  and  then 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  59 

he  took  out  his  watch.      "  We'd  better  be  getting  back,  Linn. 
We'll  just  be  in  time  to  meet  your  people  coming  out  of  church." 

So  they  turned  and  walked  leisurely  across  the  gorse-covered 
downs  until  they  reached  the  broad  and  dusty  highway  leading  • 
towards  Winstead  village.  And  then  again  they  struck  into  a 
by-lane  with  tall  hedges,  the  banks  underneath  which  were 
bright  with  stitchwort  and  speedwell  and  white  dead-nettle. 
Now  and  again,  through  a  gap  or  a  gate,  they  caught  a  glimpse 
of  the  lush  meadows  golden  with  buttercups ;  in  one  of  them 
there  was  a  small  black  pony  standing  in  the  shadow  of  a  wide- 
spreading  elm.  They  passed  some  cottages  with  pretty  gardens 
io  front ;  they  stopped  for  a  second  to  look  at  the  old-fashioned 
columbine  and  monkshood,  the  none-so-pretty,  the  yellow  and 
crimson  wall-flower,  the  peony  roses.  Then  always  around 
them  was  this  gracious  silence,  which  seemed  so  strange  after 
the  roar  of  London  ;  and  if  the  day  promised  to  become  still 
hotter,  at  least  they  had  this  welcome  breeze,  that  rustled  the 
quick-glancing  poplars,  and  stirred  the  white-laden  hawthorns, 
and  kept  the  long  branches  of  the  wych-elms  and  chestnuts 
swaying  hither  and  thither.  They  were  not  talking  much  now  ; 
one  of  them  was  thinking  of  a  pair  of  gray  eyes. 

At  last  they  came  to  a  turnstile,  and,  passing  through  that, 
found  themselves  in  one  of  those  wide  meadows ;  at  the  farther 
side  of  it  the  red-tiled  roof,  the  gray  belfry,  and  slated  spire  of 
Winstead  Church  just  showed  above  the  masses  of  green  foliage. 
They  crossed  the  meadow  and  entered  the  churchyard.  A  per- 
fect silence  reigned  over  the  place ;  they  could  not  hear  what 
was  going  on  within  the  small  building ;  out  here  there  was  no 
sound  save  the  chirping  of  the  birds  and  the  continuous  murmur 
of  the  trees.  They  walked  about,  looking  thoughtfully  at  the 
gravestones — many  of  them  bearing  names  familiar  enough  to 
them  in  bygone  years.  And  perhaps  one  or  other  of  them  may 
have  been  fancying  that  when  the  great,  busy  world  had  done 
with  him — and  used  him  up  and  thrown  him  aside — here  at 
least  there  would  be  peace  preserv^ed  for  him — an  ample  sufii- 
ciency  of  rest  under  this  greensward,  with  perhaps  a  few  flowers 
put  there  by  some  kindly  hand.  The  dead  did  not  seem  to 
need  much  pity  on  this  tranquil  day. 

Then  into  this  universal  silence  came  suddenly  a  low,  boom- 
insr  sound  that  caused  Lionel  Moore's  heart  to  stand  still :  it 


60  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

was  the  cliurch  organ — that  awakened  a  multitude  of  associa- 
tions and  recollections,  that  seemed  to  summon  up  the  vanished 
years  and  the  dreams  of  his  youth,  when  it  was  he  himself  who 
'used  to  sit  at  the  instrument  and  call  forth  those  massive  chords 
and  solemn  tones.  Something  of  his  boyhood  came  back  to 
him ;  he  seemed  again  to  be  looking  forward  to  an  unknown 
future  ;  wondering  and  eager,  he  painted  visions ;  and  always  in 
them,  to  share  his  greatness  and  his  fame,  there  was  some  radi- 
ant creature,  smiling-eyed,  who  would  be  at  his  side  in  sorrow 
and  in  joy,  through  the  pain  of  striving  and  in  the  rapture 
of  triumph.  And  now — now  that  the  years  had  developed 
themselves — what  had  become  of  these  wistful  hopes  and  fore- 
casts? Boyish  nonsense,  he  would  have  said  (except  just  at 
such  a  moment  as  this,  when  the  sudden  sound  of  the  organ 
seemed  to  call  back  so  much).  He  had  encountered  the  reali- 
ties of  life  since  then ;  he  had  chosen  his  profession ;  be  had 
studied  hard  ;  he  had  achieved  a  measure  of  fame.  And  the 
beautiful  and  wonderful  being  who  was  to  share  his  triumphs 
with  him  ?  Well,  he  had  never  actually  beheld  her.  A  glimmer 
here  and  there,  in  a  face  or  a  form,  had  taken  his  fancy  captive 
more  than  once  ;  but  he  remained  heart-whole  ;  he  was  too  much 
occupied,  he  laughingly  assured  Maurice  Mangan  again  and 
again,  to  have  the  chance  of  falling  in  love. 

"  Getting  married  ?"  he  would  say.  "  My  dear  fellow,  I  haven't 
time ;  I'm  far  too  busy  to  think  of  getting  married." 

So  the  radiant  bride  had  never  been  found,  even  as  the  new 
Ilallelujah  Chorus  that  was  to  thrill  the  hearts  of  millions  had 
never  been  written  ;  and  Linn  Moore  had  to  be  content  with  the 
very  pronounced  success  he  had  attained  in  playing  in  comic 
opera,  and  with  a  popularity  in  the  fashionable  world  of  London, 
especially  among  the  women-folk  therein,  that  would  have  turned 
many  a  young  fellow's  head. 

When  they  thought  the  service  was  about  over  they  went 
round  to  the  porch  and  awaited  the  coming  out  of  the  congre- 
gation. And  among  the  first  to  make  their  appearance — issuing 
from  the  dusky  little  building  into  this  bewilderment  of  white 
light  and  green  leaves — were  old  Dr.  Moore  and  his  wife,  and 
Miss  Francie  Wright,  who  passed  for  Lionel's  cousin,  though 
the  relationship  was  somewhat  more  remote  than  that.  Maurice 
Mangan  received  a  very  licarty  welcome  from  these  good  people  ; 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  (Jl 

and  tliCn,  as  they  set  out  for  home,  Lionel  walked  on  with  his 
father  and  mother,  while  Lionel's  friend  naturally  followed  with 
the  young  lady.  She  was  not  a  distinctly  beautiful  person,  per- 
haps, this  slim-figured  young  woman,  with  the  somewhat  pale 
face,  the  high-arched  eyebrows,  and  light-brown  hair  ;  but  at 
least  she  had  extremely  pretty  gray  eyes,  that  had  a  touch  of 
shrewdness  and  humor  in  them,  as  well  as  plenty  of  gentleness 
and  womanliness ;  and  she  had  a  soft  and  attractive  voice,  which 
goes  for  much. 

"  It  is  so  kind  of  you,  Mr.  Mangan,"  said  she,  in  that  soft  and 
winning  voice,  "  to  bring  Linn  down.  You  know  he  won't  come 
down  by  himself  ;  and  who  can  wonder  at  it  ?  It  is  so  dull  and 
monotonous  for  him  here,  after  the  gay  life  he  leads  in  London." 

"  Dull  and  monotonous !"  he  exclaimed.  "  Why,  I  have  been 
preaching  to  him  all  the  morning  that  he  should  be  delighted  to 
come  down  into  the  quietude  of  the  country,  as  a  sort  of  moral 
bath  after  the  insensate  racket  of  that  London  whirl.  But  no 
one  ever  knows  how  well  off  he  is,"  he  continued,  as  they 
walked  along  between  the  fragrant  hawthorn  hedges ;  "  it's  the 
lookers-on  who  know.  Good  gracious,  what  wouldn't  I  give  to 
be  in  Linn's  place  !" 

"  Do  you  mean  in  London,  Mr.  Mangan  ?"  she  asked,  and  for 
an  instant  the  pretty  gray  eyes  looked  up. 

"  Certainly  not !"  he  said,  with  unnecessary  warmth.  "  I 
mean  here.  If  I  could  run  down  of  a  Sunday  to  a  beautiful, 
quiet,  old-fashioned  place  like  this,  and  find  myself  in  my  own 
home,  among  my  own  people,  I  wonder  how  many  Sundays 
would  find  me  in  London  ?  You  can't  imagine,  you  have  no 
idea,  what  it  is  to  live  quite  alone  in  London,  with  no  one  to 
turn  to  but  club  acquaintances ;  and  I  think  Sunday  is  the  worst 
day  of  all,  especially  if  it  is  fine  weather,  and  all  the  people  have 
gone  to  the  country  or  the  seaside  to  spend  the  day  with  their 
friends." 

"  But,  Mr.  Mangan,"  said  Miss  Francie  Wright,  gently,  "  I  am 
sure,  whenever  you  have  a  Sunday  free  like  that,  we  should  be 
only  too  glad  if  you  would  consider  us  your  friends — unless 
you  think  the  place  too  dreadfully  tedious,  as  I'm  afraid  my 
cousin  finds  it." 

"  It  is  very  kind  of  you — very,"  said  he.  '*  And  I  know  the 
old  doctor  and  Mrs.  Moore   like  to  see  me  well  enough,  for  I 


62  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

bring  down  their  boy  to  tbem  ;  but  if  I  came  by  myself,  I'm 
afraid  they  wouldn't  care  to  bave  an  idling,  dawdling  fellow  like 
me  lounging  about  the  place  of  a  Sunday  afternoon." 

"  Will  you  come  and  try,  Mr.  Mangan  ?"  said  she,  quietly. 
"  For  Linn's  sake  alone  I  know  they  would  be  delighted  to  have 
you  here.  And  if  it  is  rest  and  quiet  you  want,  can't  we  give 
you  the  garden  and  a  book  ?" 

"  You  mustn't  put  such  visions  before  me,"  he  said.  "  It's 
too  good  to  be  true.  I  should  be  sighing  for  Paradise  all 
through  the  week  and  forgetting  my  work.  And  shouldn't  I 
hate  to  wake  up  on  Monday  morning  and  find  myself  in  London  !" 

"  You  might  wake  up  on  Monday  morning,  and  find  yourself 
in  Winstead,"  said  she, "  if  you  would  take  Linn's  room  for  the 
night." 

"  Ah,  no,"  he  said,  "  it  isn't  for  the  like  of  me  to  try  to  take 
Linn's  place  in  any  way  whatever.  He  has  always  had  every- 
thing— everything  seemed  to  come  to  him  by  natural  right ;  and 
then  he  has  always  been  such  a  capital  fellow,  so  modest  and 
unaffected  and  generous,  that  nobody  could  ever  grudge  him  his 
good-fortune.     Prince  Fortunatus  he  always  has  been." 

"In  what  w^ay,  Mr.  Mangan?"  his  companion  asked,  rather 
wonderingly. 

"  In  every  way.  People  are  fond  of  him  ;  he  wins  affection 
without  trying  for  it ;  as  I  say,  it  all  comes  to  him  as  if  by  nat- 
ural right." 

"  Yes,  they  say  he  is  very  popular  in  London,  among  those 
fine  folk,"  observed  Miss  Francie,  quite  good-naturedly. 

"  Oh,  I  wasn't  thinking  of  his  fashionable  friends,"  Mangan 
rejoined.  "  Being  made  much  of  by  those  people  doesn't  seem 
to  me  one  of  the  great  gifts  of  fortune.  And  yet  I  wonder  it 
hasn't  spoiled  him.  He  doesn't  seem  the  least  bit  spoiled,  docs 
he?" 

"  Really,  I  see  so  little  of  him,"  Miss  Francie  said,  with  a 
smile, "  he  honors  us  with  so  few  visits,  that  1  can  hardly  tell." 

"  No,  he  is  not  spoiled — you  may  take  my  word  for  it,"  her 
companion  said,  with  decision.  And  then  he  added,  "  I  sup- 
pose he  gets  too  much  of  that  petting ;  he  is  kept  in  such  a  tur- 
moil of  gayety  that  its  evil  effects  have  no  time  to  sink  into  him. 
He  is  too  busy — as  he  said  this  morning  about  marrying." 

"  What  was  that,  Mr.  Mangan  ?"  she  asked. 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  63 

"  He  said  he  was  too  busy  to  think  of  getting  married." 

"  Oh,  indeed  ?"  she  said,  with  her  eyes  directed  towards  the 
ground.  "  We — we  have  always  been  expecting  to  hear  of  liis 
being  engaged  to  some  young  lady — seeing  he  is  made  so  much 
of  in  London — "  She  could  say  no  more,  for  now  they  were 
arrived  at  the  doctor's  house,  which  was  separated  from  the 
highway  by  a  little  strip  of  front  garden.  They  passed  in 
through  the  gate  and  found  the  door  left  open  for  them. 

"  Well,  Miss  Savonarola,"  said  Lionel,  as  he  hung  up  his  hat 
in  the  hall  and  turned  to  address  her,  "  how  have  you  been  all 
this  time  ?" 

"  I  have  been  very  well,  Mr.  Pagan,"  said  she,  smiling. 

"  And  how  are  all  those  juvenile  Londoners  that  you've  plant- 
ed about  in  the  cottages  ?" 

"  They're  getting  on  nicely,  every  one  of  them,"  said  she, 
with  quite  an  air  of  pride  ;  and  then  she  added,  "  When  is  your 
Munificence  going  to  give  me  another  subscription  ?" 

"  Just  now,  Francie,"  was  the  instant  reply.  How  much  do 
you  want  ?" 

"  As  much  as  ever  you  can  afford,"  said  she. 

He  pulled  from  his  pocket  a  handful  of  loose  coin,  and  began 
to  pick  out  the  sovereigns.  But  Miss  Francie,  with  a  little  touch 
of  her  fingers,  put  the  money  away. 

"  No,  Linn,  not  from  you.  You've  given  me  too  much  already. 
You  give  too  freely ;  I  like  to  have  a  little  difficulty  in  obtain- 
ing subscriptions;  it  feels  nicer  somehow.  But  if  my  funds 
should  run  very  low,  then  Til  come  to  you,  Linn." 

"  Whenever  you  like,  Francie,"  said  he,  carelessly  ;  he  poured 
the  money  into  his  pocket  again  and  bade  Maurice  Mangan 
come  up  to  his  room,  to  get  the  dust  of  travel  removed  from  his 
hands  and  face  before  going  in  to  luncheon. 

Then  while  Mangan  was  busy  with  his  ablutions  in  this  small 
upper  chamber,  Lionel  drew  a  chair  to  the  open  window  and 
gazed  absently  abroad  on  the  wide  stretch  of  country  visible 
from  the  doctor's  house.  It  was  a  familiar  view  ;  yet  it  was 
one  not  easy  to  get  tired  of  ;  and  of  course  on  such  a  morning 
as  this  it  lost  none  of  its  charm.  Everywhere  in  the  warm  breeze 
and  the  sunshine  there  was  a  universal  rustling  and  trembling  and 
glancing  of  all  beautiful  things — of  the  translucent  foliage  of 
the  limes,  the  pendulous  blossoms  of  lilacs  and  laburnums,  the 


&1  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

swaying  branches  of  the  larcli,  and  tlic  masses  of  blue  forget- 
me-nots  in  the  garden  below.  Then  there  were  all  the  hushed 
sounds  of  the  country  :  the  distant,  quick  footfall  of  a  horse  on 
some  dusty  road ;  the  warning  cluck  of  a  thrush  to  her  young 
ones  down  there  among  the  bushes ;  the  g\kd  voices  and  laugh- 
ter of  some  girls  in  an  adjacent  garden — they,  too,  likely  to  be 
soon  away  froiB  the  maternal  nest ;  the  crow  of  a  cock  pheasant 
from  the  margin  of  the  wood ;  the  clear,  ringing  melody  of  an 
undiscoverable  lark.  Everywhere  white  light,  blue  skies,  and 
shadows  of  great  clouds  slow-sailing  over  the  young  green  corn 
and  over  the  daisied  meadows  in  which  the  cows  lay  half-asleep. 
And  when  he  looked  beyond  that  low  green  hill,  where  there 
were  one  or  two  hares  hopping  about  on  their  ungainly  high 
haunches,  and  past  that  great  stretch  of  receding  country  in 
which  strips  of  red-and-white  villages  peeped  here  and  there  from 
the  woods,  behold !  a  horizon  as  of  the  sea,  faint  and  blue  and 
far,  rising  and  ever  rising  in  various  hues  and  tones,  until  it  was 
lost  in  a  quivering  mist  of  heat ;  and  he  could  only  guess  that 
there,  too,  under  the  glowing  sky,  some  other  fair  expanse  of 
our  beautiful  English  landscape  lay  basking  in  the  sunlight  and 
sweet  air  of  the  early  summer. 

Of  course  Lionel  was  the  hero  of  the  hour  when  they  were  all 
assembled  in  the  dining-room — at  a  very  sumptuously  furnished 
board,  by  the  way,  for  the  hale  old  doctor  was  fond  of  good 
living  and  a  firm  believer  in  the  virtues  of  port  wine.  Moreover, 
the  young  man  had  an  attentive  audience ;  for  the  worthy  old 
lady  at  the  head  of  the  table  never  took  her  admiring  eyes  off 
this  wonderful  boy  of  hers ;  and  Miss  Francie  Wright  meekly 
listened  too ;  while  as  for  Maurice  Mangan,  who  was  he  in  his 
humble  station  to  interrupt  this  marvellous  tale  of  great  doings 
and  festivities  ?  Not  that  Lionel  magnified  his  own  share  in 
these  things ;  nay,  he  modestly  kept  himself  out  altogether ;  it 
was  merely  to  interest  these  simple  country  folk  that  he  described 
the  grand  banquets,  the  illuminated  gardens,  the  long  marquees, 
and  told  them  how  the  princess  looked,  and  who  it  was  who  had 
the  honor  of  taking  her  in  to  supper.  But  when  he  came, 
among  other  things,  to  speak  of  tlie  rehearsal  of  the  little  pastoral 
comedy,  in  the  clear  light  of  the  dawn,  by  Lady  Adola  Cunyngham 
and  her  friends,  he  had  to  admit  that  he  himself  was  present  on 
that  occasion  ;  and  at  once  the  fond  mother  took  him  to  task. 


TJuy  pusml  in  throiinh  llw  (fate,  and  found  the  door  left  open  for 
thmi." 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  65 

"  It's  wicked,  Lionel,"  she  said,  severely ;  "  it's  downright 
wicked  to  keep  such  hours.  Look  at  the  result  of  it  all.  You 
can't  eat  anything — you're  not  taking  a  mouthful !" 

*'  But,  you  know,  mother,  I'm  not  used  to  luncheon,"  he  said, 
cheerfully  enough.  "  I  have  to  dine  at  five  every  day — and  I've 
no  time  to  bother  with  luncheon,  even  if  I  could  eat  it." 

"  Take  a  glass  of  port,  my  lad,"  the  old  doctor  said.  "  That 
will  put  some  life  into  you." 

"  No,  thanks,"  he  said,  indifferently,  "  I  can't  afford  to  play 
tricks.     I  have  to  study  my  throat." 

"  Why,  what  better  astringent  can  you  have  than  tannic  acid  ?" 
the  old  gentleman  called  down  the  table.  "  I  suppose  you  drink 
those  washy  abominations  that  the  young  men  of  the  day  pre- 
fer to  honest  wine  ;  what's  that  I  hear  about  lemonade  ?  Lem- 
onade !"  he  repeated,  with  disgust. 

"  It's  home-brewed — it's  wholesome  enough ;  Miss  Burgoyne 
makes  some  for  me  when  she  is  making  it  for  herself,"  the 
young  man  said;  and  then  he  turned  to  his  mother:  " Mother,  I 
wish  you  would  send  her  something  from  the  garden — " 

"  Who,  Lionel  ?" 

"  Miss  Burgoyne — at  the  theatre,  you  know.  She's  very  good 
to  me — lends  me  her  room  if  I  have  any  swell  friends  who  want 
to  come  behind — and  makes  me  this  lemonade,  which  is  better 
than  anything  else  on  a  hot  night.  Couldn't  you  send  her  some- 
thing from  the  garden  ? — not  flowers — she  gets  too  many  flow- 
ers, and  doesn't  care  for  them  ;  but  if  you  had  some  early  straw- 
berries or  something  of  that  kind,  she  would  take  them  as  a 
greater  compliment,  coming  from  you,  than  if  some  idiot  of  a 
young  fool  spent  guineas  on  them  at  a  florist's.  And  when  are 
you  coming  up  to  see  '  The  Squire's  Daughter,'  Francie  ?  The 
idea  that  you  should  never  have  been  near  the  place,  when  I 
hear  people  confessing  to  each  other  that  they  have  been  to  see 
it  eight  and  ten,  or  even  a  dozen  times  !" 

"  But  I  am  so  busy,  Lionel !"  she  said  ;  and  then  perhaps  an 
echo  of  something  that  had  been  said  in  the  morning  may  have 
recurred  to  her  mind ;  for  she  seemed  a  trifle  confused,  and 
kept  her  eyes  downcast,  while  Lionel  went  on  to  tell  them  of  what 
certain  friends  of  his  were  going  to  do  at  Henley  Regatta. 

After  luncheon  they  went  out  into  the  garden,  and  took  seats 
in  the  shade  of  the  lilac-trees,  in  the  sweet  air.     Old  Mrs.  Moore 


66  PRINCE     FORTUNATUS. 

had  for  form's  sake  brought  a  book  with  her ;  but  she  was  not 
likely  to  read  much  when  the  pride  of  her  eyes  had  come  down 
on  a  visit  to  her,  and  was  now  talking  to  her,  in  his  oS-hand, 
light-hearted  way.  Maurice  Mangan  had  followed  the  doctor's 
example  and  pulled  out  his  pipe — which  he  forgot  to  light,  how- 
ever. He  seemed  dissatisfied.  He  kept  looking  back  to  the 
house  from  time  to  time.  Was  there  no  one  else  coming  out  ? 
There  was  the  French  window  of  the  drawing-room  still  open ; 
was  there  no  glimmer  of  a  gray  dress  anywhere — with  its  orna- 
mentation of  a  bunch  of  scarlet  geraniums  ?  At  last  he  made 
bold  to  say  to  the  doctor : 

"  Where  has  Miss  Francie  gone  to  ?  Isn't  she  coming  out  too  ?" 

"  Oh,  she's  away  after  those  London  brats  of  hers,  I  have  no 
doubt,"  the  old  gentleman  said.  "  You  won't  see  her  till  tea- 
time,  if  even  then."  Whereupon  Mangan  lit  his  pipe,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  smoke  in  silence,  listening  at  times  and  absently  to 
Lionel's  vivacious  talking  to  his  mother. 

In  fact,  before  Miss  Francie  Wright  returned  that  afternoon, 
Lionel  found  that  he  had  to  take  his  departure,  for  there  are  no 
trains  to  Winstead  on  Sunday,  and  he  would  have  to  walk  some 
three  miles  to  the  nearest  station.  When  he  declared  he  had  to 
go,  the  old  lady's  protests  and  entreaties  were  almost  piteous. 

"  You  come  to  see  us  so  seldom,  Lionel !  And  of  course  we 
thought  you'd  dine  wit|j  us,  at  the  very  least ;  and  if  you  could 
stay  the  night  as  well,  you  know  there's  a  room  for  Mr.  Mangan 
too.     And  we  were  looking  forward  to  such  a  pleasant  evening." 

"  But  I  have  a  long-standing  engagement,  mother ;  a  dinner 
engagement — I  could  not  get  out  of  it." 

"  And  you  are  dragging  Mr.  Mangan  away  up  to  town  again, 
on  a  beautiful  afternoon  like  this,  when  we  know  he  is  so  fond 
of  the  country  and  of  a  garden — " 

"Not  at  all,"  Lionel  said.  "I  need  not  spoil  Maurice's  day, 
if  I  have  to  spoil  my  own ;  he'll  stay,  of  course  ;  and  I  suppose 
Francie  will  be  back  directly." 

"  I'm  sure,  Mr.  Mangan,"  the  old  lady  said,  turning  at  once  to 
her  other  guest,  "  if  Lionel  must  really  go,  we  shall  be  delighted 
if  you  will  reinain  and  dine  with  us — I  hope  you  will — and  you 
can  have  Lionel's  room  if  you  will  stay  the  night  as  well." 

"  Tliaiik  you,  I  couldn't  do  that,"  said  he,  very  gratefully, 
"  but  if  you  will  have  me,  I  shall  be  very  glad  to  stay  on,  and 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  g7 

go  up  by  a  late  train.  In  the  meantime,  I  think  I'll  walk  to  the 
station  with  Linn." 

"  And  come  back  with  a  good  appetite  for  dinner,"  said  the 
doctor,  calling  after  him.  "  We'll  have  something  better  than 
lemonade,  I  warrant  ye  !" 

They  have  slow  trains  on  these  Surrey  lines  on  Sunday ;  by 
the  time  that  Lionel  had  got  up  to  town  and  driven  to  his  rooms 
and  dressed,  it  was  very  near  the  hour  at  which  he  was  due  at 
the  Lansdowne  Gallery,  where  Lord  Rockminster  was  giving  a 
dinner-party,  as  a  preliminary  to  the  concert  and  crush  that  were 
to  follow.  And  no  sooner  had  he  alighted  from  his  hansom, 
and  entered  the  marble  vestibule  of  the  gallery,  than  whom 
should  he  descry  ascending  the  stairs  in  front  of  him  but  Mf. 
Octavius  Quirk. 

"  Lady  Adela  hasn't  let  the  grass  grow  under  her  feet,"  he 
said  to  himself.     "  Captured  her  first  critic  already  !" 

Lady  Adela  was  at  the  head  of  the  stairs  receiving  her  broth- 
er's guests ;  and  the  greeting  that  she  accorded  to  Mr.  Octavius 
Quirk  was  of  a  most  special  and  gracious  kind.  She  was  very 
complaisant  to  Lionel  also,  and  bade  him  go  and  see  if  the  place 
they  had  given  him  at  dinner  was  to  his  liking.  He  took  this 
as  a  kind  of  permission  to  choose  what  he  wanted  (within  dis- 
creet limits) ;  and  as  he  just  then  happened  to  meet  Miss  Georgie 
Lestrange,  he  proposed  to  that  smiling  and  ruddy-haired  damsel 
that  they  should  go  and  examine  for  themselves — and  perhaps 
alter  the  dispositions  a  little.  So  they  passed  away  through  those 
brilliantly  lit  galleries  (which  served  as  a  picture-exhibition  on 
week-days),  and  at  the  farther  end  of  the  largest  room  they  found 
the  oblong  dinner-table,  which  was  brilliant  with  flowers  and 
fruit,  with  crystal  and  silver.  Of  course  Lionel  and  his  com- 
panion had  to  be  content  with  very  modest  places,  for  this  was 
a  highly  distinguished  company  which  Lord  Rockminster  had 
invited ;  but  at  all  events  they  made  sure  they  were  to  sit  to- 
gether, and  that  arrangement  seemed  to  be  satisfactory  to  them 
both. 

This  was  rather  a  magnificent  little  banquet ;  and  Lionel,  look- 
ing down  the  long,  richly  colored  table,  may  once  or  twice  have 
thought  of  the  quiet,  small  dining-room  at  Winstead  (perhaps 
with  the  curtains  still  undrawn,  and  the  evening  light  shining  blue 
iu  the  panes),  and  of  the  solitary  guest  whom  he  had  left  to  talk 


68  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

to  those  good  people ;  but  indeed  he  was  not  permitted  much 
time  for  reverie,  for  the  young  hidy  with  the  pince-nez  was  a 
most  lively  chatterer  ;  she  knew  everything  that  was  going  on  in 
London,  and  seemed  to  take  a  particularly  active  interest  therein. 
Among  other  solemn  items  of  information  which  she  communi- 
cated to  her  companion,  she  mentioned  that  the  issue  of  Lady 
Adela's  novel  had  been  postponed. 

"  Yes,  it's  quite  ready,  you  know,"  she  continued,  in  her  blithe, 
discursive,  happy-go-lucky  fashion  ;  "  all  quite  ready ;  but  she 
doesn't  want  it  to  go  before  the  public  until  there  has  been  a 
little  talk  about  it,  don't  you  understand  ?  She  wants  some  of 
the  society  papers  to  mention  it ;  but  she  isn't  quite  sure  how 
to  get  that  done,  and  nobody  seems  able  to  help  her — it's  real- 
ly distressing.  Do  you  see  that  hideous  creature  down  there 
at  the  corner  ?" 

"Yes." 

"  He's  a  writer,"  observed  this  artless  maiden,  in  mysterious 
tones. 

"  You  don't  say  so  !" 

*'  Yes,  he  is — writes  in  all  kinds  of  places.  Why,  now  I  think 
of  it.  Lady  Adela  said  he  was  a  friend  of  yours !  I'm  sure  she 
did.  So  you  pretend  not  to  know  him — is  that  on  account  of 
his  complexion  ?  Have  you  any  more  such  beauties  among  your 
acquaintances,  Mr.  Moore  ?  I  thought  he  might  be  taking  me 
in  to  dinner ;  and  that's  why  I  was  so  glad  you  brought  me  to 
look  at  the  cards.  Very  rude,  wasn't  it?  but  you  had  permis- 
sion, hadn't  you  ?     And  there's  another  one  coming  to-night." 

"  Another  what  ?" 

"  A  writing  man.  But  this  other  one  is  an  American.  Of 
course  Lady  Adela  wants  to  have  the  curiosity  of  the  American 
public  excited  just  as  well  as  the  English.  Have  you  heard  Lady 
Sybil's  marching-song  yet?" 

"  No." 

"Well,  I  think  it  is  charming  —  really  charming.  Rock- 
minster  was  dining  with  the  oflicers  of  the  Coldstream  Guards 
the  other  evening,  and  he  promised  to  send  a  copy  to  the  band- 
master as  soon  as  it  is  published.  But  Sybil  wants  more  than 
that,  of  course ;  she  wants  to  see  whether  the  commander-in- 
chief  wouldn't  recommend  it,  so  that  it  could  be  taken  up  by 
all   the  regiments.      Wouldn't  that  be  sj)lendid  ? — to  think  that 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  69 

Sybil  should  provide  a  marching-song  for  the  whole  British 
army  !" 

"  Yes,  indeed,"  said  he,  with  great  politeness.  "  And  why 
shouldn't  the  commander-in-chief  recommend  it?  A  marching- 
song  is  as  important  as  a  new  button.  But  I  must  get  a  look 
at  the  music,  if  we  are  all  to  join  in  the  chorus." 

The  dinner  was  not  long-protracted,  for  there  was  to  be  a  con- 
cert during  the  evening  ;  and,  indeed,  people  began  to  arrive 
early — strolling  through  the  galleries,  looking  at  the  pictures, 
or  talking  together  in  small  groups.  It  was  during  this  pro- 
miscuous assembling  that  Octavius  Quirk  got  hold  of  Lionel, 
and,  with  savage  disgust,  drew  his  attention  to  a  hostler-looking 
person  who  had  just  come  into  the  room. 

"Do  you  see  that  ill-conditioned  brute;  what's  he  doing 
here  ?" 

Lionel  glanced  in  the  direction  indicated. 

"  I  don't  know  who  he  is." 

"  Don't  you  know  Quincey  Hooper  ?  the  correspondent  of  the 
Philadefphia  Roll- Call — a  cur  who  toadies  every  Englishman 
he  meets,  and  at  the  same  time  sneers  at  everything  English 
in  his  wretched  Philadelphia  rag." 

Then  Lionel  instantly  bethought  him  of  Miss  Lestrange's  hint ; 
was  this  the  correspondent  who  was  to  arouse  the  interest  of 
the  great  American  Continent  in  Lady  Adela's  forthcoming  novel, 
even  as  Octavius  Quirk  was  expected  to  write  about  it  in  Eng- 
land? But  surely,  with  the  wide  Atlantic  lying  between  their 
respective  spheres  of  operation,  there  was  no  need  for  rivalry  ? 
Why  did  Mr.  Quirk  still  glare  in  the  direction  of  the  new-comer 
with  ill-disguised,  or  rather  with  wholly  undisguised,  disdain  ? 

"  Why,"  said  he,  in  his  tempestuously  frothy  fashion,  "  I've 
heard  that  creature  actually  discussing  with  another  American 
what  sort  of  air  a  man  should  assume  in  entering  a  drawing- 
room  !  Can  you  conceive  of  such  a  thing  ?  Where  did  all  that 
alarmed  self-consciousness  of  the  modern  American  come  from 
— that  unceasing  self-consciousness  that  makes  the  American 
young  man  spend  five  sixths  of  his  waking  time  in  asking  him- 
self if  he  is  a  gentleman  ?  Not  from  the  splendid  assurance,  the 
belief  in  himself,  the  wholesome  satisfaction  of  old  John  Bull. 
It's  no  use  for  the  modern  American  to  say  he  is  of  English 
descent  at  all !"  continued  this  boisterous  controversialist,  who 


70  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

was  still  glaring  at  the  hapless  mortal  at  the  door,  as  if  every 
windy  sentence  was  being  hurled  at  his  head,  "  Not  a  bit ! 
there's  nothing  English  about  him,  or  his  ways,  or  his  sympa- 
thies, or  character.  Fancy  an  Englishman  considering  what  de- 
meanor he  should  assume  before  entering  a  drawing-room  !  The 
modern  American  hasn't  the  least  idea  from  whom  he  is  descend- 
ed ;  what  right  has  he  to  claim  anything  of  our  glorious  English 
heritage  ? — or  to  say  there  is  English  blood  in  him  at  all  ?  Why, 
as  far  back  as  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  people  of 
English  birth  or  parentage  in  the  Eastern  States  were  in  a  dis- 
tinct minority  !  And  as  to  the  American  of  the  future — look 
at  the  thousands  upon  thousands  of  Germans  pouring  into  the 
country  as  compared  with  the  English  immigration.  That  is 
the  future  American — a  German ;  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  he  will 
have  some  back-bone  in  him,  and  not  alarm  himself  about  his 
entering  a  drawing-room  !  America  for  the  Americans  ? — it's 
America  for  the  Germans !  I  tell  you  this :  in  a  generation  or 
two  the  great  national  poet  of  America  will  be — Goethe !" 

Happily,  at  this  moment,  Lady  Adela  came  up,  and  Lionel 
most  gladly  turned  aside,  for  she  had  evidently  something  to 
say  to  him  privately. 

"  Mr.  Moore,  I  want  to  introduce  you  to  Mr.  Hooper — to  Mr. 
Quincey  Hooper — he  doesn't  seem  to  know  anybody,  and  I  want 
you  to  look  after  him  a  little — " 

"  No,  no.  Lady  Adela,  you  must  really  excuse  me,"  said  he, 
in  an  undertone,  but  he  was  laughing  all  the  same.  "  I  can't, 
really.  I  beg  your  pardon,  but  indeed  you  must  excuse  me. 
I've  just  had  one  dose  of  literature — a  furious  lecture  about — 
about  I  don't  know  what — oh,  yes,  immigration  into  America. 
And  do  you  know  this — that  in  a  generation  or  two  the  great 
national  poet  of  America  will  be  Goethe  ?" 

"What?"  said  she. 

He  repeated  the  statement;  and  added  that  there  could  be  no 
doubt  about  it,  for  he  had  it  on  Mr.  Octavius  Quirk's  authority. 

"  Well,  it's  a  good  thing  to  be  told,"  she  said,  sweetly,  "  for 
then  you  know."  And  therewithal,  as  there  was  a  sudden  sound 
of  music  issuing  from  the  next  gallery,  she  bade  Lionel  take 
her  to  see  who  had  begun — it  was  Lady  Sybil,  indeed,  who  was 
playing  a  solo  on  the  violin  to  an  accompaniment  of  stringed 
jnKtrniiiciits,  wliilc  all  the  crowd  stood  still  and  listened. 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  71 

The  evening  passed  pleasantly  enough.  There  were  one  or 
two  courageous  amateurs  who  now  and  again  ventured  on  a 
song ;  but  for  the  most  part  the  music  was  instrumental.  A 
young  lady,  standing  with  her  hands  behind  her  back,  gave  a 
recitation,  and  attempted  to  draw  pathetic  tears  by  picturing 
the  woes  of  a  simple-minded  chimney-sweep  who  accidentally 
killed  his  tame  sparrow,  and  who  never  quite  held  up  his  head 
thereafter ;  he  seemed  to  pine  away  somehow,  until  one  morn- 
ing they  found  him  dead,  his  face  downward  on  the  tiny  grave 
in  which  he  had  buried  his  little  playfellow.  Another  young 
lady  performed  a  series  of  brilliant  roulades  on  a  silver  bugle, 
which  seemed  to  afford  satisfaction.  A  well-known  entertainer 
sat  down  to  the  piano  and  proceeded  to  give  a  description  of  a 
fashionable  wedding ;  and  all  the  people  laughed  merrily  at  the 
clever  and  sparkling  way  in  which  he  made  a  fool  of — not  them- 
selves, of  course,  but  their  friends  and  acquaintances.  And 
then  Lionel  Moore  went  to  his  hostess. 

**  Don't  you  want  me  to  do  anything  ?"  he  said. 

"  You're  too  kind,"  Lady  Adela  made  answer,  with  grateful 
eyes.     "It's  hardly  fair.     Still,  if  I  had  the  courage — " 

"  Yes,  you  have  the  courage,"  he  said,  smiling. 

"  If  I  had  the  courage  to  ask  you  to  sing  Sybil's  song  for  her?" 

"  Of  course  I  will  sing  it,"  he  said. 

"  Will  you  ?  Will  you  really  ?  You  know,  I'm  afraid  those 
two  girls  will  never  give  enough  force  to  it.  And  it  is  a  man's 
song — if  you  wouldn't  mind,  Mr.  Moore." 

"  Where  can  I  get  the  music  ?    I'll  just  look  it  over." 

Quite  a  little  murmur  of  interest  went  through  the  place  when 
it  was  rumored  that  Lionel  Moore  was  about  to  sing  Lady  Syb- 
il's "  Soldiers'  Marching  Song ;"  and  when  he  stepped  on  to  the 
platform  at  the  upper  end  of  the  gallery,  people  came  swarming 
in  from  the  other  rooms.  Lady  Sybil  herself  was  to  play  the 
accompaniment — the  grand  piano  being  fully  opened  so  as  to 
give  free  egress  to  the  marshalled  chords  ;  and  when  she  sat 
down  to  the  keyboard,  it  was  apparent  that  the  tall,  pale,  hand- 
some young  lady  w^as  not  a  little  tremulous  and  anxious.  In- 
deed, it  was  a  very  good  thing  for  the  composer  that  she  had 
got  Lionel  Moore  to  sing  the  song;  for  the  quite  trivial  and 
commonplace  character  of  the  music  was  in  a  large  measure 
concealed  by  the  fine  and  resonant  quality  of  his  rich  baritone 


72  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

notes.  The  chorus  was  not  much  of  a  success — Lady  Sybil's 
promised  accomplices  seemed  to  have  found  their  courage  fail 
them  at  the  critical  moment ;  but  as  for  the  martial  ditty  itself, 
it  appeared  to  take  the  public  ear  very  well ;  and  when  Lionel 
finally  folded  the  music  together  again,  there  was  quite  a  little 
tempest  of  clapping  of  hands.  Here  and  there  a  half-hearted 
demand  for  a  repetition  was  heard ;  but  this  was  understood 
to  be  merely  a  compliment  to  Lady  Sybil ;  and  indeed  Lionel 
strolled  out  of  the  room  as  soon  as  his  duties  were  over.  Fortu- 
nately no  one  was  so  indiscreet  as  to  ask  him  what  he  privately 
thought  of  the  "  Soldiers'  Marching  Song,"  or  of  its  chances  of 
being  recommended  to  the  British  Army  by  his  royal  highness 
the  commander-in-chief. 

When  at  length  Lionel  thought  it  was  about  time  for  him  to 
slip  away  quietly  from  these  brilliant,  busy,  murmuring  rooms, 
he  went  to  bid  his  hostess  privately  good-night. 

"  It  was  so  awfully  kind  of  you,  Mr.  Moore,"  she  said,  gra- 
ciously, "  to  give  us  the  chance  of  making  Mr.  Quirk's  acquaint- 
ance. He  is  so  interesting,  you  know,  so  unconventional,  so 
original  in  his  opinions — quite  a  treat  to  listen  to  him,  I  assure 
you.  I've  sent  him  a  copy  of  my  poor  little  book;  some  time 
or  other  I  wish  you  could  get  to  know  what  he  thinks  of  it  ?" 

"  Oh,  yes,  certainly.  I  will  ask  him,"  Lionel  said  ;  and  again 
he  bade  her  good-night,  and  took  his  leave. 

But  as  he  was  going  by  the  entrance  into  a  smaller  gallery, 
which  had  been  turned  into  a  sort  of  supper-room  (there  was  a 
buffet  at  one  end,  and  everywhere  a  number  of  small  tables  at 
which  groups  of  friends  could  sit  down,  the  gentlemen  of  the 
party  bringing  over  what  was  wanted)  he  happened  to  glance 
in,  and  there,  occupying  a  small  table  all  by  himself,  was  Mr. 
Octavius  Quirk,  Lionel  at  once  made  his  way  to  him.  He 
found  him  with  a  capacious  plate  of  lobster-salad  before  him, 
and  by  the  side  of  that  was  a  large  bottle  of  champagne. 

"  Going  to  sit  down  ?"  Quirk  asked — but  with  no  great  cor- 
diality ;  it  was  for  one  person,  not  for  two,  that  he  had  secured 
that  bottle, 

"  No  ;  I  dined  hero,"  said  Lionel,  with  innocent  sarcasm. 

"  My  dear  follow,"  observed  the  other,  earnestly,  "  a  good 
dinner  is  the  very  best  preparation  in  the  world  for  a  good 
snj)por." 


1 


PRINCE    FOKTUNATUS.  73 

"  I  hear  Lady  Adcla  has  sent  you  her  book  ;  have  you  hjoked 
at  it  ?"  Lionel  asked. 

"  Yes,  I  have,"  said  the  other,  with  his  mouth  full  of  lobster- 
salad.  "  Capital !  I  call  it  capital !  Plenty  of  verve  and  go — 
knowledge  of  society — nobody  can  do  that  kind  of  thing  like 
the  people  who  are  actually  living  in  it.  Her  characters  are  the 
people  one  really  meets,  you  know — they  are  in  the  world — 
they  belong  to  life.  Oh,  yes,  a  capital  novel !  Light,  airy, 
amusing,  sparkling — I  tell  you  it  will  be  the  book  of  the  sea- 
son !" 

"  Oh,  I'm  very  glad  to  hear  that,"  said  Lionel,  thoughtfully  ; 
and  then  he  went  and  got  his  light  overcoat  and  crush-hat,  and 
descended  the  wide  stone-steps,  and  made  his  way  home  to  his 
rooms  in  Piccadilly. 


CHAPTER  V. 

WARS    AND    RUMORS. 


Little  could  Lionel  Moore  have  anticipated  what  was  to  come 
of  his  introducing  his  old  comrade  Nina  to  the  New  Theatre. 
At  first  all  went  well ;  and  even  the  prima-donna  herself  was  so 
good  as  to  extend  her  patronage  to  Lionel's  protegee ;  insomuch 
that,  arriving  rather  early  at  the  theatre  one  evening,  and  en- 
countering Nina  in  the  corridor,  she  said  to  her, 

"  You  come  into  my  room,  and  Til  show  you  my  make-up." 
It  was  a  friendly  offer ;  and  the  young  Italian  girl,  who  was 
working  hard  in  every  way  to  fit  herself  for  the  stage,  was  glad 
to  be  initiated  still  further  into  these  mysteries  of  the  toilet. 
But  when  she  had  followed  Miss  Burgoyne  into  the  sacred  in- 
ner room,  and  when  the  dresser  had  been  told  she  should  not 
be  wanted  yet  awhile,  Nina,  who  was  far  from  being  a  stupid 
person,  began  to  perceive  what  had  prompted  this  sudden  invi- 
tation. For  Miss  Burgoyne,  as  she  w'as  throwing  off  her  things, 
and  getting  ready  for  her  stage-transformation,  kept  plying  her 
guest  w^ith  all  sorts  of  cunning  little  questions  about  Mr.  Moore 
— questions  which  had  no  apparent  motive,  it  is  true,  so  care- 
lessly were  they  asked ;  but  Nina,  even  as  she  answered,  was 
shrewd  enough  to  understand. 
4 


74  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  So  you  might  call  yourself  quite  an  old  friend  of  his,"  the 
priraa-donna  continued,  busying'  herself  at  the  dressing-table. 
"  Well,  what  do  you  think  of  him  now  ?" 

*'  How,  Miss  Burgoyne  ?"  Nina  said. 

"  Why,  you  see  the  position  he  has  attained  here  in  London 
— very  different  from  what  he  had  when  he  was  studying  in 
Naples,  I  suppose.  Don't  you  hear  how  all  those  women  are 
spoiling  him  ?  What  do  you  think  of  that  ?  If  I  were  a  friend 
of  his — an  intimate  friend — I  should  warn  him.  For  what  will 
the  end  be — he'll  marry  a  rich  woman,  a  woman  of  fashion,  and 
cease  to  be  anybody.  Fancy  a  man's  ruining  his  career — giving 
up  his  position,  his  reputation — becoming  nobody  at  all — in 
order  to  have  splendid  horses  and  give  big  dinner-parties !  Of 
course  she'll  have  her  doll,  to  drive  by  her  side  in  the  Park ; 
but  she'll  tire— and  then  ?  And  he'll  get  sick-tired,  too,  and 
wish  he  was  back  in  the  theatre  ;  and  just  as  likely  as  not  he'll 
take  to  drinking,  or  gambling,  or  something.  Depend  on  it,  my 
dear,  a  professional  should  marry  in  the  profession ;  that's  the 
only  safe  thing ;  then  there  is  a  community  of  interests,  and 
they  understand  each  other  and  are  glad  of  each  other's  success. 
Don't  you  think  so  yourself  ?" 

Nina  was  startled  by  the  sudden  appeal ;  but  she  managed  to 
intimate  that,  on  the  whole,  she  agreed  with  Miss  Burgoyne ; 
and  that  young  lady  proceeded  to  expand  her  little  lecture  and 
to  cite  general  instances  that  had  come  within  her  own  knowl- 
edge of  the  disastrous  effects  of  theatrical  people  marrying  out- 
side their  own  set.  As  to  any  lesson  in  the  art  of  making-up, 
perhaps  Miss  Burgoyne  had  forgotten  the  pretext  on  which  she 
asked  Nina  to  come  to  her  room.  Iler  maid  was  called  in  to 
help  her  now.  And  at  last  it  was  time  for  Nina  to  go,  for  she 
also,  in  her  humble  way,  had  to  prepare  herself  for  the  per- 
formance. 

But  this  friendliness  on  the  part  of  the  priraa-donna  towards 
the  young  baritone's  proter/ee  did  not  last  very  long.  For  one 
thing,  Lionel  did  not  come  to  Miss  Burgoyne's  sitting-room  as 
much  as  he  used  to  do,  to  have  a  cup  of  tea  and  a  chat  with 
one  or  two  acquaintances ;  he  preferred  standing  in  the  wings 
with  Xiiia,  who  was  a  most  indefatigable  student,  and  giving 
her  wliispered  criticisms  and  comments  as  to  what  was  going 
forward  on  tbe  stage.     When  Miss  Burgoyne  came  upon  them 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  75 

SO  employed,  she  passed  them  in  cold  disdain.  And  by  degrees 
she  took  less  and  less  notice  of  Miss  Ross  (as  Nina  was  now 
called),  who,  indeed,  was  only  Miss  Girond's  undcr-study  and 
a  person  of  no  consequence  in  the  theatre.  Finally,  Miss  Bur- 
goyne  ceased  to  recognize  Miss  Ross,  even  when  they  happened 
to  be  going  in  by  the  stage-door  of  an  evening ;  and  Nina,  not 
knowing  how  she  had  offended,  nevertheless  accepted  her  fate 
meekly  and  without  protest,  nor  had  she  any  thought  of  asking 
Lionel  to  intervene. 

But  worse  was  to  befall.  One  day  Lionel  said  to  her, 
"  Nina,  I  never  knew  any  one  work  harder  than  you  are  do- 
ing. Of  course  it's  very  handy  your  having  Mrs.  Grey  to  coach 
you  ;  and  you  can't  do  better  than  stand  opposite  that  long  mir- 
ror and  watch  yourself  doing  what  she  tells  you  to  do.  She's 
quite  enthusiastic  about  you ;  perhaps  it's  because  you  are  so 
considerate — she  says  you  never  practise  until  the  other  lodgers 
have  gone  out.  By  the  way,  that  reading  dialogue  aloud  is  cap- 
ital ;  I  can  hear  how  your  Euglish  is  getting  freer  and  freer ; 
why,  in  a  little  while  you'll  be  able  to  take  any  part  that  is 
oflEered  you.  And  in  any  case,  you  know,  the  English  audiences 
rather  like  a  touch  of  foreign  accent ;  oh,  you  needn't  be  afraid 
about  that.  Well,  now,  all  this  hard  work  can't  go  on  forever; 
you  must  have  a  little  relaxation  ;  and  I'm  going  to  take  you  and 
Mrs.  Grey  for  a  drive  down  to  Hampton  Court,  and  we'll  dine 
there  in  the  evening,  in  a  room  overlooking  the  river — very 
pretty  it  is,  I  can  tell  you.  "What  do  you  say  ?  Will  next  Fri- 
day do  ?  Friday  is  the  night  of  least  consequence  in  a  London 
theatre ;  and  if  you  can  arrange  it  with  Mrs.  Grey,  FIl  arrange 
it  with  Lehmann ;  my  under-study  is  always  glad  of  a  chance 
of  taking  the  part.  You  persuade  Mrs.  Grey,  and  Fll  manage 
Lehmann.     Is  it  a  bargain  ?" 

So  it  came  about  that  on  a  certain  bright  and  sunny  morning  in 
June  Lionel  was  standing  at  the  window  of  a  private  room  in  a 
hotel  near  the  top  of  Regent  Street,  w^here  he  proposed  (for  he  was 
an  extravagant  young  man)  to  entertain  his  two  guests  at  lunch 
before  driving  them  down  to  Hampton  Court.  He  had  ordered 
the  wine  and  seen  that  the  flowers  on  the  table  were  all  right ; 
and  now  he  was  looking  down  into  the  street,  vaguely  noticing 
the  passers-by.  But  this  barouche  that  drove  up  i — there  was 
something  familiar  about  it — wasn't  it  the  carriage  he  had  sent 


76  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

down  to  Sloane  Street? — ^then  the  next  moment  he  was  saying 
to  himself, 

"  My  goodness  gracious  !  can  that  be  Nina  ?" 

And  Nina  it  assuredly  was ;  but  not  the  Nina  of  the  black 
dress  and  crimson  straw  hat  with  which  he  had  grown  familiar. 
Oh,  no;  this  young  lady  who  stepped  down  from  the  carriage, 
who  waited  a  second  for  her  friend,  and  then  crossed  the  pave- 
ment, was  a  kind  of  vision  of  light  summer  coolness  and  pretti- 
ness ;  even  his  uninstructed  intelligence  told  him  how  charm- 
ingly she  was  dressed ;  though  he  had  but  a  glimpse  of  the 
tight-fitting  gown  of  cream-white,  with  its  silver  girdle,  the  white 
straw  hat  looped  up  on  one  side  and  adorned  on  the  other  with 
large  yellow  roses,  the  pale-yellow  gloves  with  silver  bangles  at 
the  wrists,  the  snow-white  sunshade,  with  its  yellow  satin  rib- 
bons attached.  The  vision  of  a  moment — then  it  was  gone ; 
but  only  to  reappear  here  at  the  open  door.  And  who  could  think 
of  her  costume  at  all  when  Nina  herself  came  forward,  with  the 
pretty,  pale,  foreign  face  so  pleasantly  smiling,  the  liquid  black 
eyes  softly  bespeaking  kindness,  the  half-parted  lips  showing  a 
glimmer  of  milk-white  teeth. 

"  Good-morning,  Leo !" 

"  Good-morning,  Nina  !  They  say  that  ladies  are  never  punc- 
tual ;  but  here  you  are  to  the  moment !" 

"  Then  you  have  to  thank  Mrs.  Grey — and  your  own  goodness 
in  sending  the  carriage  for  us.  Ah,  the  delightful  flowers !" 
said  she,  glancing  at  the  table,  and  her  nostrils  seemed  to  dilate 
a  little,  as  if  she  would  welcome  all  their  odors  at  once.  "  But 
the  window,  Leo — you  will  have  the  window  open  ?  London,  it 
is  perfectly  beautiful  this  morning ! — the  air  is  sweet  as  of  the 
country — oh,  it  is  the  gayest  city  in  the  world  !" 

"  I  never  saw  London  fuller,  anyway,"  said  he,  as  he  rang 
the  bell,  and  told  the  waiter  to  have  luncheon  produced  forth- 
with. 

Nina,  seated  at  table  in  that  cool  summer  costume,  merely 
toyed  with  the  things  put  before  her  (except  when  they  came 
to  the  strawberries)  ;  she  was  chattering  away,  with  her  little 
dramatic  gestures,  about  every  conceivable  subject  within  her 
recent  experience,  until,  as  she  happened  to  say  something  about 
Naples,  Lionel  cruelly  interrupted  her  by  asking  her  if  she  had 
heard  lately  from  her  sweetheart. 


PRINCE    FORTUNATU8.  77 

"  Who  ?"  she  said,  with  a  stare  ;  and  also  the  little  widow  in 
black  looked  up  from  her  plate  and  seemed  to  think  it  a  strange 
question, 

"  Don't  you  pretend  to  have  forgotten,  Nina,"  Lionel  said, 
reprovingly.  "  Don't  you  look  so  innocent.  If  you  have  no 
memory,  then  I  have." 

"  But  who,  Leo  ?"  she  demanded,  with  a  touch  of  indignation. 
"  Who  ? — who  ? — who  ?     What  is  it  you  mean  ?" 

"  Nina,  don't  you  pretend  you  Lave  forgotten  poor  Nicolo 
Ciana." 

"  Oh,  Nicolo !"  she  exclaimed,  with  supreme  contempt  (but 
all  the  same  there  was  a  faint  flush  on  the  clear  olive  complex- 
ion). "  You  laugh  at  me,  Leo !  Nicolo  !  He  was  all,  as  they 
say  here,  sham — sham  jewelry,  sham  clothes,  all  pretence,  ex- 
cept the  oil  for  his  hair — that  was  plenty  and  substantial,  yes. 
And  a  sham  voice — he  told  lies  to  the  maestro  about  his  wonder- 
ful compass — " 

"  Now,  now,  Nina,  don't  be  unjust,"  he  said.  "  Mrs.  Grey 
must  hear  the  truth.  Mrs.  Grey,  this  was  a  young  Italian  who 
wanted  to  be  better  acquainted  with  Miss  Nina  here — I  believe 
he  used  to  write  imploring  letters  to  her,  and  that  she  cruelly 
wouldn't  answer  them  ;  and  then  he  wrote  to  Maestro  Pandiani, 
describing  the  wonderful  tenor  voice  he  had,  and  saying  he 
wanted  to  study.  I  suppose  he  fancied  that  if  the  maestro 
would  only  believe  in  the  mysterious  qualities  of  this  wonderful 
organ  of  his  he  would  try  to  bring  them  out ;  and  in  the  mean- 
time the  happy  Nicolo  would  be  meeting  Nina  continually.  A 
lover's  stratagem — nothing  worse  than  that !  What  is  the  harm 
of  saying  that  you  could  take  the  high  C  if  you  were  in  ordinary 
health,  but  that  your  voice  has  been  ill-used  by  a  recent  fever  ? 
It  was  Nina  he  was  thinking  of.  Don't  I  remember  how  I  used 
to  hear  him  coming  along  the  garden-paths  in  the  Villa  Reale — 
if  there  were  few  people  about  you  could  hear  his  vile  falsetto 
a  mile  off — and  always  it  was : 

'Antoniella,  Anionic, 
Antoniella,  Antoni^; 
Votate,  Nenna  bella,  votate  cctL, 
Vedimmo  a  pettenessa  comrae  te  st^.' " 

"  Leo,"  she  said,  with  proud  lips,  "  he  never  calied  me  *■  Nenna 
mia ' — never  !     He  dared  not !" 


78  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

In  another  instant,  he  could  see,  there  would  have  been  pro- 
testing tears  in  her  eyes ;  and  even  Mrs.  Grey,  who  did  not 
know  the  meaning  of  the  familiar  Neapolitan  phrase,*  noticed 
the  tremulous  indignation  in  the  girl's  voice. 

"  Of  course  not,  Nina,"  he  said,  at  once ;  "  I  was  only  joking 
— ^but  you  know  he  did  use  to  sing  that  confounded  '  Antoni- 
ella,  Antonia,'  and  it  was  always  you  he  was  thinking  of." 

"  I  did  not  think  of  him,  then !"  said  she,  almost  instantly 
recovering  her  self-control.  "  Him  ?  No  !  When  I  go  out — 
when  I  was  going  out  in  the  Santa  Lucia,  I  looked  at  the  Eng- 
lish gentlemen — all  so  simple  and  honest  in  their  dress — perhaps 
a  steel  watch-chain  to  a  gold  watch — not  a  sham  gold  chain  to 
no  watch !  Then  they  looked  so  clean  and  wholesome — is  it 
right,  wholesome  ? — not  their  hair  dripping  with  grease,  as  the 
peasant-girls  love  it.  And  then,"  she  added,  with  a  laugh,  for 
her  face  had  quickly  resumed  its  usual  happy  brightness  of 
expression,  "  then  I  grow  sentimental.  I  say  to  myself,  '  These 
are  English  people — they  are  going  away  back  to  England,  where 
Leo  is — can  they  take  him  a  message? — can  they  tell  him  they 
were  going  over  to  Capri,  and  they  met  on  the  ship — on  the 
steamer — an  Italian  girl,  who  liked  to  look  at  the  English,  and 
liked  to  hear  the  English  speak  ?  And  then  I  say  '  No  ;  what 
is  the  use ;  what  would  any  message  do ;  Leo  has  forgotten 
me.' " 

"  Oh,  yes,"  said  he,  lightly,  "  you  must  have  been  quite  cer- 
tain that  I  had  forgotten  my  old  comrade  Nina  !" 

They  got  a  beautiful,  warm,  sunny  afternoon  for  their  drive 
down  to  Hampton  Court ;  nor  was  it  fated  to  be  without  inci- 
dent either.  They  had  passed  along  Oxford  Street  and  were 
just  turning  out  of  the  crowded  thoroughfare  to  enter  Hyde 
Park — and  Lionel,  as  a  man  Avill,  was  watching  how  his  coach- 
man would  take  the  horses  through  the  Marble  Arch — when 
Nina  said,  in  a  low  voice, 

«  Leo !" 

"  Well  ?"  said  he,  turning  to  her. 

"  Did  you  not  see  ?" 

"See  what?" 

*  Nenna  mia  or  Ncnna  bella  is  the  pet  phrase  used  by  the  Neapolitan 
young  man  in  addressing  liis  sweetlicart.  Ncnna  has  nothing  to  do  with 
Nina,  whieh  is  a  contraetion  of  Antonia. 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  ijy 

**  The  carriage  that  went  past,"  Nina  said,  looking  a  little  con- 
cerned.    "  Miss  Burgoyne  was  in  it — she  bowed  to  you — " 

"  Did  she  ?  I  didn't  see  her — I'll  have  to  apologize  to  her  to- 
morrow," said  he,  carelessly.  "  Perhaps  the  compliment  was 
meant  for  you,  Nina." 

"  For  me  ?  Ah,  no.  Miss  Burgoyne  speaks  no  more  to 
me." 

"  She  doesn't  speak  to  you  ?  Why  ?"  he  asked,  in  some 
amazement. 

The  young  Italian  lady  made  a  little  gesture  of  indifference. 

"  How  do  I  know  ?  But  I  am  not  sorry.  I  do  not  like  her 
—no  !  she  is  not — she  is  not — straightforward,  is  it  right  ? — she 
is  cunning — and  she  has  a  dreadful  temper — oh !  I  have  heard 
— I  have  heard  such  stories !  Again,  she  is  not  an  artist — I  said 
that  to  you  from  the  beginning,  Leo — no,  not  an  artist :  why 
does  she  talk  to  you  from  behind  her  fan,  when  she  should  re- 
gard the  others  on  the  stage  ?  Why  does  she  talk  always  and 
always  to  you,  when  she  has  nothing  to  say  ?" 

"  Oh,  but  she  finds  plenty  to  say  1"  he  observed. 

"  Yes,"  said  Nina,  contemptuously,  "  she  has  always  plenty 
to  say  to  you  on  the  stage,  if  she  has  not  a  word  the  moment 
the  scene  is  over.  Why  ?  You  don't  understand  !  You  don't 
reflect  1  I  will  tell  you,  Leo,  if  you  are  so  simple.  You  think 
she  does  not  know  that  the  public  can  see  she  talks  to  you  ? 
She  knows  it  well ;  and  that  is  why  she  talks.  It  is  to  boast  of 
her  friendship  with  you,  her  alliance  with  you.  She  says  to  the 
ladies  in  the  stalls, '  See  here,  I  can  talk  to  him  when  I  please — 
you  are  away — you  are  outside.'  It  is  her  vanity.  She  says  to 
them,  '  You  can  buy  his  portrait  out  of  the  shop-window^  per- 
haps— you  can  ask  him  to  your  house  perhaps — and  he  goes  for 
an  hour,  among  strangers — but  see  here — every  night  I  am  talk- 
ing to  him ' — " 

"  Yes,  and  see  here,  Nina,"  he  said,  with  a  laugh,  "  how  about 
my  vanity? — don't  you  think  of  that?  AYho  could  have  im- 
agined I  was  so  important  a  person !  But  the  truth  is,  Nina, 
they've  lengthened  out  that  comic  scene  inordinately  with  all 
that  gagging,  and  Miss  Burgoyne  has  nothing  to  do  in  it ;  if 
she  hides  her  talking  behind  her  fan — " 

"  Hides  ?"  said  Nina,  with  just  a  trace  of  scorn.  "  No  ;  she 
shows !     It  is  display  !     It  is  vanity  !     And  you  think  a  true 


80  PEINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

artist  would  so  forget  her  part — would  wish  to  show  the  people 
that  she  talks  privately- — " 

"  Miss  Nina  is  quite  right,  you  know,  Mr.  Moore,"  said  the 
little  widow  in  black,  and  she  was  entitled  to  speak  with  author- 
ity. "  I  didn't  think  it  looked  well  myself.  A  ballet-girl  would 
catch  it  if  she  went  on  the  same  way." 

"  What  would  you  have  her  do  ?"  he  said — for  he  was  a  very 
tolerant  and  good-natured  person.  "  Sit  and  look  on  at  that 
idiotic  comic  gag  ?" 

"  Certainly,"  said  the  little  dame,  with  decision.  "  She  is  in 
the  scene.  She  is  not  Miss  Burgoyue ;  she  is  Grace  Mainwar- 
ing  ;  and  she  ought  to  appear  interested  in  everything  around 
her." 

"  Oh,  well,  perhaps  I  have  been  to  blame,"  he  said,  rather  un- 
easily. "  I  dare  say  I  encouraged  her.  But  really  I  had  no 
idea  the  audience  could  have  noticed  it." 

"  It  was  meant  for  them  to  notice  it,"  Nina  said,  vindictively  ; 
and  then,  as  she  would  have  nothing  more  to  say  on  this  wretch- 
ed subject,  she  turned  to  look  at  the  gay  lilacs  aad  laburnums 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Serpentine,  at  the  shimmering  blue 
of  the  wide  stretch  of  water,  and  at  the  fleet  of  pleasure-boats 
with  their  wet  oars  gleaming  in  the  golden  sunlight. 

Her  equanimity  was  soon  restored ;  she  would  have  nothing 
further  to  say  of  Miss  Burgoyne  on  such  a  gracious  afternoon  ; 
and,  indeed,  when  they  had  crossed  the  Thames  at  Putney,  and 
got  into  the  opener  country  down  by  Barnes  and  East  Sheen  and 
Richmond,  she  was  chattering  away  in  her  delight  over  every- 
thing they  encountered — the  wide  commons,  the  luxuriant  gar- 
dens, the  spacious  mansions,  the  magnificent  elms,  the  hawthorn- 
trees,  red  and  white,  that  sweetened  all  the  soft  summer  air. 
Of  course  when  they  arrived  at  the  top  of  Richmond  llill  they 
halted  for  a  minute  or  two  at  the  Star  and  Garter  to  water  the 
horses,  while  they  themselves  had  a  stroll  along  the  terrace,  a 
cup  of  tea,  and  a  look  abroad  over  the  wide,  hazy,  dream-like 
landscape  stretching  far  out  into  the  west.  Then  they  crossed 
tlie  river  again  at  Richmond  Bridge ;  they  bowled  along  by 
Twickenham  and  Teddington  ;  finally  they  drove  through  the 
magnificent  chestnut-avenues  of  Bushey  Park,  which  were  just 
now  in  their  finest  blossom.  When  they  stopped  at  the  Mitre, 
it  was  not  to  go   in  ;   Nina   was  to   be  shown  the  gardens  of 


PRINCE    F0RTUNATU8.  81 

Hampton  Court  Palace ;  there  would  be  plenty  of  time  for  a 
pleasant  saunter  before  dinner. 

Miss  Burgoyne,  indeed !  Nina  bad  forgotten  all  about  Miss 
Burgoyne  as  the  little  party  of  three  passed  through  the  cool 
gray  courtyard  of  the  palace  and  entered  into  the  golden  glow 
of  the  gardens — for  now  the  westering  sun  was  rich  and  warm 
on  the  tall  elms  and  limes  and  threw  deep  shadows  on  the  green- 
sward under  the  short  black  yews.  They  walked  down  towards 
the  river,  and  stood  for  a  long  time  watching  the  irregular  pro- 
cession of  boats — many  of  them  pulled  by  young  girls  in  light 
summer  dresses  that  lent  some  variety  of  color  to  this  sufficient- 
ly pretty  picture.  It  was  altogether  an  attractive  scene — the 
placid  waters,  the  soft  green  landscape,  the  swift,  glancing  boats, 
from  which  from  time  to  time  came  a  ripple  of  youthful  laugh- 
ter or  song.  And  indeed  Nina  was  regarding  rather  wistfully 
those  maidens  in  palest  blue  or  palest  pink  who  went  swinging 
down  with  the  stream. 

"  Those  young  ladies,"  she  said,  in  an  absent  kind  of  way,  to 
the  little  widow,  who  was  standing  beside  her,  "  it  is  a  pleasant 
life  they  live.  It  is  all  amusement.  They  have  no  hard  work ; 
no  anxieties ;  no  troubles ;  everything  is  made  gentle  for  them 
by  their  friends  ;  it  is  one  enjoyment,  and  again  and  again  ;  they 
have  no  care." 

"  Don't  be  so  sure  of  that.  Miss  Nina,"  Mrs.  Grey  said,  with 
a  quiet  smile.  "  I  dare  say  many  a  one  of  those  girls  has  worked 
as  hard  at  her  music  as  ever  you  have  done,  and  has  very  little 
to  show  for  it.  I  dare  say  many  a  one  of  them  would  be  glad 
to  change  her  position  for  yours — I  mean,  for  the  position  you 
will  have  ere  long.  Do  you  know,  Mr.  Moore,"  she  said,  turn- 
ing to  Nina's  other  companion,  "  that  I  am  quite  sure  of  this — 
if  Miss  Burgoyne's  under-study  was  drafted  into  a  travelling 
company,  I  am  quite  sure  Miss  Nina  here  could  take  her  place 
with  perfect  confidence." 

"  I  don't  see  why  not,"  he  said,  as  if  it  were  a  matter  of 
course. 

"  Then  you  know  what  would  happen,"  Mrs.  Grey  continued, 

turning  again  to  the  young  lady,  in  whose  future  she  seemed 

greatly  interested.     "  Miss  Burgoyne  would  want  a  holiday,  or 

her  doctor  would  order  her  to  give  her  voice  a  fortnight's  rest, 

or  she  might  catch  a  bad  cold — and  then  comes  your  chance ! 
4* 


82  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

You  know  the  music  thoroughly  ;  you  know  every  bit  of  Miss 
Burgoyne's  '  business ;'  and  Mr.  Moore  would  be  on  the  stage, 
or  in  the  wings,  to  guide  you  as  to  your  entrances  and  exits. 
That  will  be  a  proud  night  for  me,  my  dear ;  for  I'll  be  there — 
oh,  yes,  I'll  be  there ;  and  if  I  have  any  stage  experience  at  all, 
I  tell  you  it  will  be  a  splendid  triumph — with  such  a  voice  as 
yours — and  there  won't  be  any  more  talk  of  keeping  you  as 
under-study  to  Miss  Girond.  No,"  she  added,  with  a  shrewd 
smile,  "  but  there  will  be  something  else.  Miss  Burgoyne  won't 
like  it ;  she  doesn't  like  rivals  near  the  throne,  from  what  I  can 
hear.  She'll  try  to  get  you  drafted  off  into  one  of  the  country 
companies — mark  my  words." 

"  The  country  ?"  said  Nina,  rather  aghast.  "To  go  away  into 
the  country  ?" 

"But  look  at  the  chance,  my  dear,"  said  the  little  ex-actress, 
eagerly.  "  Look  at  the  practice — the  experience  !  And  then,  if 
you  only  take  care  of  your  voice,  and  don't  strain  it  by  over- 
work, then  you'll  be  able  to  come  back  to  London  and  just  com- 
mand any  engagement  you  may  want." 

"  To  come  back  to  London  after  a  long  time  ?"  she  said, 
thoughtfully  ;  and  she  was  somewhat  grave  and  reserved  as  they 
strolled  idly  back  through  the  gardens,  and  through  the  Palace 
buildings,  to  the  riverside  hotel. 

But  no  far-reaching  possibilities  of  that  kind  were  allowed  to 
interfere  with  Nina's  perfect  enjoyment  of  this  little  dinner- 
party that  had  been  got  up  in  her  honor.  They  had  a  room  all 
to  themselves  on  an  upper  floor;  the  windows  were  thrown  wide 
open ;  even  as  they  sat  at  table  they  could  look  abroad  on  the 
spacious  landscape  whose  meadows  and  hedges  and  woods 
stretched  away  into  distant  heights  crowned  by  a  solitary  wind- 
mill. Indeed,  the  young  lady  was  so  rude  as  to  leave  the  table 
more  than  once,  and  go  and  stand  at  the  open  window  ;  there 
was  a  charm  in  the  dying-out  of  the  day  —  in  the  beautiful 
colors  now  encircling  the  world — in  the  hushed  sounds  coming 
up  from  the  stream — that  she  could  not  withstand.  The  even- 
ing glow  was  warm  on  the  rose-hued  front  of  the  palace  and 
on  the  masses  of  sunny  green  foliage  surrounding  it ;  on  the 
still,  blue  river  the  boats  were  of  a  lustrous  bronze ;  while  the 
oars  seemed  to  be  oars  of  shining  gold  as  they  dipped  and 
flashed.     By  and  by,  indeed,  the  glory  faded  away ;  the  stream 


-  .,w^y.^:^f\ 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  83 

became  gray  and  ghostly  ;  there  were  no  more  ripples  of  laugh- 
ter or  calls  from  this  side  to  that ;  and  Nina  resumed  her  place 
more  contentedly  at  the  table,  which  was  all  lit  up  now.  She 
made  her  small  apologies  ;  she  said  she  did  not  know  that 
England  was  such  a  beautiful  place.  Lionel,  who  in  no  way  re- 
sented her  thus  withdrawing  herself  from  time  to  time,  had  been 
leisurely  talking  to  Mrs.  Grey  of  theatrical  things  in  general ; 
and,  now  that  coffee  was  coming  in,  he  begged  permission  to 
light  a  cigarette.  Altogether  it  was  a  simple,  friendly,  unpre- 
tentious evening,  that  did  not  seem  to  involve  any  serious  con- 
sequences. As  night  fell,  they  set  out  on  their  homeward 
drive ;  and  through  the  silent  country  they  went,  under  the 
stars.  Lionel  left  his  two  friends  at  their  door  in  Sloane  Street ; 
and  as  he  was  driving  home  to  his  lodgings,  if  he  thought  of 
the  matter  at  all,  he  no  doubt  hoped  that  he  had  given  his 
friends  a  pleasant  little  treat. 

But  there  was  more  to  come  of  it  than  that.  On  the  follow- 
ing evening  Lionel  got  down  to  the  theatre  rather  later  than 
usual,  and  had  to  set  to  work  at  once  to  get  ready,  so  that  he 
had  no  opportunity  of  seeing  Miss  Burgoyne  until  he  actually 
met  her  on  the  stage.  Now,  those  of  the  public  who  had  seen 
this  piece  before  could  not  have  perceived  any  difference  of  man- 
ner on  the  part  of  the  coquettish  Grace  Mainwaring  towards  the 
young  gentleman  who  had  so  unexpectedly  fallen  in  her  way — 
to  wit,  Harry  Thornhill ;  but  Lionel  instantly  became  aware  of 
it ;  and  while  he  was  endeavoi^ing,  after  the  fashion  of  the 
young  stage  gallant,  to  convey  to  Miss  Grace  Mainwaring  the 
knowledge  that  she  had  suddenly  captured  his  fancy  and  made 
him  her  slave  for  life,  he  was  inwardly  reflecting  that  he  should 
have  come  down  earlier  to  the  theatre,  and  apologized  to  Miss 
Burgoyne  for  the  unintentional  slight  of  the  previous  day.  As 
soon  as  the  scene  was  over  and  they  were  both  in  the  wings,  he 
hastened  to  her  (they  had  left  the  stage  by  opposite  sides)  and  said, 

"  Oh,  Miss  Burgoyne,  something  very  awkward  happened  yes- 
terday— I  am  so  sorry — I  want  to  apologize — " 

"  I  hope  you  will  do  nothing  of  the  kind,"  said  she,  haughtily, 
"  it  is  quite  unnecessary." 

"  Oh,  but  look  here,  I'm  really  .very  sorry,"  he  was  endeavor- 
ing to  say,  when  she  again  interrupted  him : 

"  If  vou  choose  to  go  driving  through  London  with  chorus- 


84  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

girls,"  said  she,  in  measured  and  bitter  tones,  "  I  suppose  your 
attention  must  be  fully  occupied." 

And  therewith  she  marched  proudly  away  from  him ;  nor  could 
he  follow  her  to  protest  or  explain,  for  he  was  wanted  on  the  stage 
in  about  a  second,  lie  felt  inclined  to  be  angry  and  resentful ; 
but  he  was  helpless ;  he  had  to  attend  to  this  immediate  scene. 

Meanwhile  Miss  Burgoyne  did  not  long  preserve  that  lofty 
demeanor  of  hers ;  the  moment  she  left  him  her  rage  got  the 
better  of  her,  for  here  was  the  Italian  girl  most  inopportunely 
coming  along  the  corridor ;  and  just  as  poor  Nina  came  up  Miss 
Burgoyne  turned  to  her  maid,  who  was  holding  open  the  dressing- 
room  door  for  her,  and  said  aloud,  so  that  every  one  could  overhear, 

"  Oh,  we  don't  want  foreigners  in  English  opera ;  why  don't 
they  take  a  barrel-organ  through  the  streets,  or  a  couple  of  ca- 
naries in  a  cage  ?" 

Nor  was  that  all ;  for  here  was  Mile.  Girond ;  and  the  smart 
little  boy-officer,  as  she  came  along  the  passage,  was  gayly  sing- 
ing to  herself,  ,      .  .  , 

^  "  Le  roti,  la  salade, 

L'aniour,  la  promenade 

A  deux  dans  les 
Dans  les 

Deux  dans  les 
A  deux  daps  les  bluets !" 

"  Oh,  there's  another  of  tlie  foreign  chimpanzees  !"  exclaimed 
Miss  Burgoyne,  in  her  fury ;  and  she  dashed  into  her  room,  and 
slammed  the  door  behind  her. 

Mile.  Girond  stood  staring  at  the  door;  then  she  turned  to  look 
at  Nina;  then  she  burst  out  laughing. 

"  Quel  ouragan,  grand  Dieu  !"  she  cried.  "  Ma  pauvre  enfant, 
qu'allcz  vous  faire  maintenant?"  She  turned  to  the  door  and 
lauglied  again.  "  Elle  a  la  tute  pros  du  bonnet,  n'cst-co  pas  ? 
— mon  Dieu,  elle  s'enfiamme  comme  de  la  poudre  !" 

But  Nina  did  not  stay  to  make  any  explanation  ;  somcwliat 
paler  tlian  usual,  and  quite  silent  and  reserved,  slic  took  up  her 
position  in  the  wings  ;  nor  had  she  a  word  to  say  to  Lionel  wlion 
lie  came  off  the  stage  and  passed  lier — with  a  nod  and  a  smile 
of  greeting — on  his  way  to  his  room. 

Then  things  went  from  bad  to  worse,  and  swiftly.  On  tlie 
very  next  afternoon,  whicli  was  a  Sunday,  Lionel  was  about  to 
walk  <b>wn  to  Sloane  Street,  to  liave  a  chat  and  a  cup  of  tea  with 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS,  85 

Mrs.  Grey  and  Nina ;  but  before  going  he  thought  he  would  just 
have  time  to  scribble  a  piece  of  music  in  an  album  that  Lady 
Rosamund  Bourne  had  sent  him  and  affix  his  name  thereto.  He 
brought  his  writing  materials  to  the  table  and  opened  the  big 
volume ;  and  he  was  glancing  over  the  pages  (Lady  Rosamund 
had  laid  some  very  distinguished  people,  mostly  artists,  under 
contribution,  and  there  were  some  interesting  sketches)  when  the 
house-porter  came  up  and  presented  a  card.  Lionel  glanced  at 
the  name — Mr,  Percival  Miles — and  wondered  who  the  stranger 
might  be ;  then  he  recollected  that  surely  this  was  the  name  of 
a  young  gentleman  who  was  a  devoted  admirer  of  Miss  Burgoyne. 
Miss  Burgoyne  had,  indeed,  on  one  occasion  introduced  the  young 
man  to  him  ;  but  he  had  paid  little  heed  ;  most  likely  he  regarded 
him  with  the  sort  of  half -humorous  contempt  with  which  the 
professional  actor  is  apt  to  look  upon  the  moon-struck  youths 
who  bring  bouquets  into  the  stalls  and  languish  about  stage- 
doors.  However,  he  told  the  house-porter  to  ask  the  gentleman 
to  step  up-stairs. 

But  he  was  hardly  prepared  for  what  followed.  The  young 
gentleman  who  now  came  into  the  room — he  was  a  pretty  boy, 
of  the  fair-haired  English  type,  with  a  little  yellow  moustache 
and  clear,  gray  eyes — seemed  almost  incapable  of  speech,  and  his 
lips  were  quite  pale. 

"  In — in  what  I  have  to  say  to  you,  Mr.  Moore,"  he  said,  in  a 
breathless  kind  of  way,  "  1  hope  there  will  be  no  need  to  mention 
any  lady's  name.  But  you  know  whom  I  mean.  That — that 
lady  has  placed  her  interests  in  my  hands — she  has  appealed  to 
me — I  am  here  to  demand  reparation — in  the  usual  way — " 

"  Reparation — for  what  ?"  Lionel  asked,  staring  at  the  young 
man  as  if  he  were  an  escaped  lunatic. 

"  Your  attentions,"  said  the  hapless  boy,  striving  hard  to  pre- 
serve a  calm  demeanor,  "  your  attentions  are  odious  and  objec- 
tionable— she  will  not  submit  to  them  any  longer — " 

"  My  attentions?"  Lionel  said.  "  If  you  mean  Miss  Burgoyne, 
I  never  paid  her  any — you  must  be  out  of  your  senses !" 

"  Shuffling  will  do  you  no  good,"  said  this  fierce  warrior,  who 
seemed  to  be  always  trying  to  swallow  something — perhaps  his 
wrath.  "  The  lady  has  placed  her  interests  in  my  hands ;  I 
demand  the  only  reparation  that  is  possible  between  gentlemen." 

'*  Look  here,  my  young  friend,"  Lionel  said,  in  a  very  cool 


86  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

sort  of  fashion,  "  do  you  want  to  go  on  the  stage  ?  Is  that  a 
specimen  of  what  you  can  do  ?  For  it  isn't  bad,  you  know — 
for  burlesque." 

"  You  won't  fight  ?"  said  the  young  man,  getting  paler  and 
more  breathless  than  ever. 

"  No,  I  will  not  fight — about  nothing,"  Lionel  said,  with  per- 
~fect  good-humor.  "  I  am  not  such  an  ass.  If  Miss  Burgoyne 
is  annoyed  because  I  passed  her  on  Friday  without  recognizing 
her,  that  was  simply  a  mistake  for  which  I  have  already  apolo- 
gized to  her.  As  for  any  cock-and-bull  story  about  my  having 
persecuted  her  with  odious  attentions,  that's  all  moonshine ; 
she  never  put  that  into  your  head ;  that's  your  own  imagina- 
tion—" 

"  By  heavens,  you  shall  fight !"  broke  in  this  infuriate  young 
fool,  and  the  next  moment  he  had  snatched  up  the  ink-bottle 
from  the  table  before  him  and  tossed  it  into  his  enemy's  face. 
That  is  to  say,  it  did  not  quite  reach  its  aim  ;  for  Lionel  had  in- 
stinctively raised  his  hand,  and  the  missile  fell  harmlessly  on  to  the 
table  again — not  altogether  harmlessly,  either,  for  in  falling  the 
lid  had  opened  and  the  ink  was  now  flowing  over  Lady  Rosa- 
mund's open  album.  At  sight  of  this  mishap,  Lionel  sprang  to 
his  feet,  his  eyes  afire. 

"  I've  a  mind  to  take  you  and  knock  your  idiotic  brains 
against  that  wall,"  he  said  to  the  panting,  white-faced  youth. 
"  But  I  won't.  I  will  teach  you  a  lesson  instead.  Yes,  I  will 
fight.  Make  what  arrangements  you  please  ;  I'll  be  there.  Now 
get  out." 

He  held  the  door  open ;  the  young  man  said,  as  he  passed, 

'*  You  shall  hear  from  me." 

And  then  Lionel  went  back  to  Lady  Rosamund's  ill-fated 
album,  and  began  to  sponge  it  with  blotting-paper,  while  with 
many  a  qualm  he  considered  how  he  was  to  apologize  to  her 
and  make  some  kind  of  plausible  explanation.  Fortunately  the 
damage  turned  out  to  be  less  serious  than  at  first  sight  appeared. 
The  open  page,  which  contained  a  very  charming  little  sketch 
in  water-color  by  Mr.  Mellord,  was  of  course  hopelessly  ruined ; 
but  elsewhere  the  ink  had  not  penetrated  very  far ;  a  number  of 
new  mounts  would  soon  put  that  right.  Tlicn  he  thought  he 
would  go  to  Mr.  Mellord  and  lay  the  whole  affair  before  him, 
and  humbly  beg  for  another  sketch  (artists  always  being  pro- 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  87 

vided  with  sncb  things) ;  so  that,  as  regarded  the  album,  no  great 
liarm  had  been  done. 

But  as  he  was  sitting  in  Mrs.  Grey's  little  parlor,  at  tea,  Nina 
fancied  he  looked  a  little  preoccupied  and  was  not  talking  as 
blithely  as  usual,  and  she  made  bold  to  ask  him  if  anything  were 
the  matter. 

"  Yes,"  said  he,  "  something  is  the  matter.  I'm  afraid  I've 
made  a  fool  of  myself."  And  then  he  added,  with  a  smile, 
"  Nina,  I'm  going  to  fight  a  duel." 

"  A  duel,  Leo  ?"  she  said,  faintly, 

"  Yes  ;  and  what  I  fear  about  it  is  the  ridicule  that  may  follow. 
But  don't  be  alarmed,  Nina,"  he  said,  cheerfully,  "  I  don't  think 
I'm  going  to  fall  on  the  deadly  field  of  battle  ;  I  can  take  care 
of  myself.  The  trouble  is  that  the  whole  thing  is  so  preposter- 
ous— so  absolutely  ridiculous  !  The  fact  is,  what  the  young  gen- 
tleman really  wants  is  a  thorough  good  caning,  and  there's  nobody 
to  give  it  him.  Very  well,  he  must  have  something  else  ;  and  I 
propose  to  teach  him  a  wholesome  lesson.  I'm  not  going  to 
take  the  trouble  of  crossing  over  to  France  or  Belgium — I  dare 
say  that  will  be  the  programme — for  nothing.  Then  there's  an- 
other thing,  Nina :  I  am  the  challenged  party  ;  I  ought  to  have 
the  choice  of  weapons.  Well,  now,  I  am  not  a  very  good  shot ; 
but  I'm  considered  a  very  fair  fencer ;  and  I  suppose  you  would 
say  that  I  should  be  magnanimous  and  choose  pistols  ?  Oh,  no ; 
I'ln  not  going  to  do  anything  of  the  kind.  There  might  be  a 
very  awkwai'd  accident  with  pistols — that  is  to  say,  if  our  blood- 
thirsty seconds  put  in  more  than  half  a  charge  of  powder.  But 
with  swords  I  fancy  I  shall  be  rather  master  of  the  situation ; 
and  perhaps  a  little  prod  or  a  scratch,  just  to  show  him  the  color 
of  his  own  blood,  will  do  him  a  world  of  good.  It  may  turn  out 
the  other  way,  no  doubt ;  I've  heard  of  bad  fencers  breaking 
through  one's  guard  just  by  pure  ignorance  and  accident ;  but 
the  betting  is  against  that  kind  of  thing." 

*'  But  what  is  it  all  about,  Leo  ?"  Nina  exclaimed  ;  she  was  far 
more  concerned  about  this  mad  project  than  he  appeared  to  be. 

"  Oh,  I  can't  tell  you  that,"  said  he,  lightly,  "  without  telling 
you  the  name  of  the  lady- — for  of  course  there  is  a  lady  in  it — 
and  that  is  never  allowed." 

Nina  sprang  to  her  feet  and  stretched  out  her  hands  towards 
him. 


S8  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  I  know — I  know !"  she  said,  in  a  breathless  sort  of  way. 
"Leo,  you  will  not  deny  it  to  me — it  is  Miss  Burgoyne !  Ah, 
do  I  not  know  ! — she  is  a  serpent ! — a  cat ! — a  devil ! — " 

"  Nina,"  he  said,  almost  angrily,  "  what  are  you  talking  about? 
Do  you  suppose  Miss  Burgoyne  would  want  a  duel  fought  just 
because  I  happened  to  pass  her,  by  accident,  without  raising  my 
hat  ?— it's  absurd." 

"  Ah,  there  is  more  than  that,  Leo  !"  Nina  cried,  eagerly  ;  and 
then  she  paused,  in  some  hesitation  and  embarrassment.  "  Yes, 
there  is  more  than  that,"  she  repeated,  as  if  with  an  effort,  and 
there  was  a  slight  flush  in  the  pretty,  pale  face.  "  Why  should 
I  not  say  it  to  you  ?  You  are  too  simple,  Leo.  You  do  not  un- 
derstand. She  wishes  to  have  the  reputation  to  be  allied  with 
you — in  the  theatre — out  of  the  theatre.  Then  she  sees  that 
you  drive  with  me  in  an  open  carriage ;  she  hates  me — what 
more  natural  ?     And  she  is  angry  with  you — " 

"  Now,  Nina,"  said  he,  "  do  you  think  any  woman  could  be  so 
mad  as  to  want  to  have  a  duel  fought  simply  because  she  saw 
me  driving  past  in  a  carriage  with  Mrs.  Grey  and  you — is  it 
reasonable  ?" 

"  Leo,  you  did  not  see  her  last  night,"  Nina  said,  but  still 
with  a  little  embarrassment,  "  when  she  meets  me  in  the  corridor 
— oh,  such  a  furious  woman  ! — her  face  white,  her  eyes  burning. 
As  for  her  insulting  me,  what  may  I  care  ?  I  am  a  foreigner, 
yes ;  if  one  says  so,  I  am  not  wounded.  Perhaps  the  foreigners 
have  better  manners  a  little  ? — but  that  is  not  of  importance ; 
no,  what  I  say  is,  she  will  be  overjoyed  to  have  you  fight  a  duel 
about  her — why,  it  is  glory  for  her ! — every  one  will  talk — your 
names  will  be  joined  in  newspapers — when  the  people  see  you 
on  the  stage  they  will  say, '  Ah,  ah,  he  is  back  from  fighting  the 
duel ;  he  must  be  mad  in  love  with  Miss  Burgoyne,'  A  duel — 
yes,  so  unusual  in  England — every  one  will  talk — ah,  that  will 
be  the  sweetest  music  for  Miss  Burgoyne's  cars  in  the  whole 
world — prouder  than  a  queen  she  will  be  when  the  public  have 
your  name  and  her  name  rumored  together.  And  you  do  not 
understand  it,  Leo  !" 

He  had  been  listening  in  silence,  with  something  of  vexation 
deepening  upon  his  features. 

"  What  you  say  only  makes  matters  worse  and  worse  !"  he 
exclaimed,  presently.     "  If  that  were  true,  Nina — just  siij){)osing 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  S9 

that  were  the  true  state  of  the  case — why,  I  should  be  fighting 
a  duel  over  a  woman  I  don't  care  twopence  about,  and  with  a 
young  jackass  whom  I  could  kick  across  the  street !  That  is 
what  I  ought  to  have  done ! — why  didn't  I  throw  him  down- 
stairs ?  But  the  mischief  of  it  is  that  the  thing  is  now  inevita- 
ble ;  I  can't  back  out ;  I  declare  I  never  was  in  such  a  quandary 
in  my  life  before  !" 

"And  you  will  go  and  put  yourself  in  danger,  Leo,"  Nina 
said,  indignantly,  "  that  a  deceitful  woman  has  the  pride  to  hear 
the  public  talk  !  Have  you  the  right  to  do  it  ?  You  say  there 
are  sometimes  accidents  —  both  with  swords  as  pistols — yes, 
every  one  knows  it.  And  you  put  your  life  in  danger — for 
what?  You  care  nothing  for  your  friends,  then? — you  think 
they  will  not  heed  much  if — if  an  accident  happens  ?  You 
think  it  is  a  light  matter — nothing — a  trifle  done  to  please  a  boy 
and  a  wicked-minded  woman  ?  Leo,  I  say  you  have  no  right  to 
do  it !  You  should  have  the  spirit,  the  courage,  to  say  '  no !' 
You  should  go  to  that  woman  and  say,  '  You  think  I  will  make 
sport  for  you  ? — no,  I  will  not !'  And  as  for  the  foolish  boy,  if 
he  comes  near  to  you,  then  you  take  your  riding-whip,  Leo, 
and  thrash  him  ! — thrash  him — thrasli  him  !"  Nina  exclaimed, 
with  her  teeth  set  hard  ;  indeed,  her  bosom  was  heaving  so  with 
indignation  that  Mrs.  Grey  put  her  hand  gently  on  the  girl's 
shoulder,  and  reminded  her  that  Lionel  was  in  sufficient  perplex- 
ity, and  wanted  wise  counsel  rather  than  whirling  words. 

As  for  Lionel  himself,  he  had  to  leave  those  good  friends 
very  shortly  ;  for  he  was  going  out  to  dinner,  and  he  had  to  get 
home  to  dress.  And  as  he  was  walking  along  Piccadilly,  rumi- 
nating over  this  matter,  the  more  he  thought  of  it  the  less  he 
liked  the  look  of  it :  not  that  he  had  been  much  influenced  by 
Nina's  apprehensions  of  personal  harm,  but  that  he  most  dis- 
tinctly feared  the  absurdity  of  the  whole  affair.  Indeed,  the 
longer  he  pondered  over  it,  the  more  morose  and  resentful  he 
became  that  he  should  ever  have  been  placed  in  such  an  awk- 
ward position  ;  and  when  he  was  going  up-stairs  to  his  room,  he 
was  saying  to  himself,  with  gloomy  significance : 

"  Well,  if  that  young  fool  persists,  I'd  advise  him  to  look  out ; 
I'm  not  going  over  the  w^atcr  for  nothing." 


90  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

A    DEPARTURE. 

There  was  but  little  sleep  for  Nina  that  night.  She  was 
sick  at  heart  to  think  that  in  return  for  the  unceasing  kindness 
Lionel  had  shown  her  since  her  arrival  in  England,  she  should 
be  the  means  of  drawing  him  into  this  foolish  embroilment. 
She  saw  the  situation  of  affairs  clearly  enough.  Miss  Burgoyne 
was  an  exacting,  irritable,  jealous  woman,  who  had  resented 
Nina's  presence  in  the  theatre  almost  from  the  beginning,  and 
who  had  been  driven  into  a  sudden  fury  by  the  sight  of  Lionel 
(he  taking  no  notice  of  her  either)  driving  past  with  this  inter- 
loping foreigner.  Moreover,  Miss  Burgoyne  was  inordinately 
vain :  to  have  the  popular  young  baritone  fight  a  duel  on  her 
account — to  have  their  names  coupled  together  in  common  talk 
— what  greater  triumph  could  she  desire  than  that  ?  But  while 
Miss  Burgoyne  might  be  the  ostensible  cause  of  the  quarrel, 
Nina  knew  who  was  the  real  cause  of  it ;  and  again  and  again 
she  asked  herself  why  she  had  ever  come  to  England,  thus  to 
bring  trouble  upon  her  old  ally  and  companion  Leo. 

And  then  in  that  world  of  visions  that  lies  just  outside  the 
realm  of  sleep — in  which  great  things  become  small,  and  small 
things  acquire  a  fantastic  and  monstrous  importance — she  wor- 
ried and  fretted  because  Lionel  had  laughingly  complained  on  the 
previous  evening  that  henceforth  there  would  be  no  more  home- 
made lemonade  for  him.  Well,  now,  if  she — that  is  to  say,  if 
Nina — were  in  her  humble  way  to  try  what  she  could  do  in  that 
direction  ?  It  might  not  be  so  good  as  the  lemonade  that  Miss 
Burgoyne  prepared ;  but  perhaps  Lionel  would  be  a  little  gener- 
ous and  make  allowance  ?  She  would  not  challenge  any  compari- 
son. She  and  Mrs.  Grey  between  them  would  do  their  best,  and 
the  result  would  be  sent  anonymously  to  his  rooms  in  Piccadilly ; 
if  he  chose  to  accept  it — ^wcll,  it  was  a  timid  little  something  by 
way  of  compensation.     Nina  forgot  for  the  moment  that  within 


PRINCE    FORTl'NATUS,  91 

the  next  few  days  an  unlucky  sword-thrust  might  suddenly  de- 
termine Lionel's  interest  in  lemonade,  as  in  all  other  earthly 
things;  these  trivial  matters  grew  large  in  this  distorted  land 
of  waking  dreams ;  nay,  she  began  to  think  that  if  she  were  to 
leave  England  altogether,  and  go  away  back  to  Naples,  and  per- 
haps accept  an  engagement  in  opera  at  Malta,  then  matters 
would  be  as  before  at  the  New  Theatre ;  and  when  Lionel  and 
Miss  Burgoyne  met  in  the  corridor,  it  would  be,  "  Good-evening, 
Miss  Burgoyne!"  and  "Good-evening,  Mr.  Moore!"  just  as  it 
used  to  be.  There  would  be  no  Italian  girl  interfering,  and 
bringing  dissension  and  trouble. 

But  the  next  morning,  when  the  actual  facts  of  the  case  were 
before  her  clearer  vision,  she  had  better  reason  for  becoming 
anxious  and  restless  and  miserable.  As  the  day  wore  on,  Mrs. 
Grey  could  hardly  persuade  her  to  run  down  to  the  Crystal  Pal- 
ace for  the  opening  of  the  Handel  Festival,  though,  as  the  little 
widow  pointed  out,  Mr.  Moore  had  procured  the  tickets  for  them, 
and  they  were  bound  to  go.  Of  course,  when  once  they  were 
in  the  great  transept  of  the  Palace,  in  the  presence  of  this  vast 
assemblage,  and  listening  to  the  splendid  orchestra  and  a  chorus 
of  between  three  and  four  thousand  voices  dealing  wuth  the 
massive  and  majestic  strains  of  the  "  Messiah,"  the  spell  of  the 
music  fell  upon  Nina  and  held  absolute  sway  over  her.  She 
got  into  a  curious  state  of  exaltation ;  she  seemed  breathless ; 
sometimes,  Mrs.  Grey  thought,  she  shivered  a  little  with  the 
strain  of  emotion.  And  all  the  time  that  Mr.  Santley  w^as  sing- 
ing "  Why  do  the  nations,"  she  held  her  hand  tightly  over  her 
heart ;  and  when  he  had  finished — when  the  thrilled  multitude 
broke  forth  into  an  extraordinary  thunder  of  enthusiasm — Nina 
murmured  to  herself, 

"  It  is — it  is  like  to  take  my  life-blood  away." 

But  when  they  were  in  the  train  again,  and  on  their  way  up 
to  town,  it  was  evident  to  her  companion  that  the  girl  had  re- 
turned to  her  anxious  fears. 

"  Mrs.  Grey,"  she  said,  suddenly,  "  I  speak  to  Miss  Burgoyne 
to-night." 

"Oh,  no,  don't  do  that.  Miss  Nina!"  said  Mrs.  Grey,  with 
much  concern,  for  she  knew  something  of  the  circumstances 
of  the  case.  "  1  hope  you  won't  do  that !  You  might  simply 
make  matters  worse.     Mr.  Moore  would  not  have  spoken  to  you 


92  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

if  he  thought  you  would  interfere,  depend  upon  that.  And  if 
Miss  Burgoyne  is  vexed  or  angry,  what  good  would  you  do  ?  I 
hear  she  has  a  sharp  tongue  ;  don't  you  try  her  temper,  my 
dear,"  the  little  woman  pleaded. 

But  Nina  did  not  answer  these  representations  ;  and  she  was 
mostly  silent  and  thoughtful  all  the  way  to  town.  When  they 
reached  London,  they  had  some  tea  at  the  rail  way -station,  and 
she  went  on  at  once  to  the  theatre.  She  was  there  early ;  Miss 
Burgoyne  had  not  arrived  ;  so  Nina  lingered  about  the  corridor, 
listening  to  Mile.  Girond's  pretty  chatter,  but  not  hearing  very 
much. 

At  length  the  prima-donna  appeared ;  and  she  would  have 
passed  Nina  without  recognition,  had  not  the  latter  went  for- 
ward a  step,  and  said,  somewhat  timidly, 

"  Miss  Burgoyne !" 

"  What  ?"  said  Miss  Burgoyne,  stopping  short,  and  regarding 
the  Italian  girl  with  a  by-no-means-friendly  stare. 

"  May  I  have  a  word  with  you  ?"  Nina  said,  with  a  little  hesi- 
tation. 

"  Yes  ;  what  is  it  ?"  the  other  demanded,  abruptly. 

"  But — but  in  private  ?"  Nina  said  again.     "  In  your  room  ?" 

"  Oh,  very  well,  come  in  !"  Miss  Burgoyne  said,  with  but 
scant  courtesy ;  and  she  led  the  way  into  her  sitting-room,  and 
also  intimated  to  her  maid  that  she  might  retire  into  the  inner 
apartment.     Then  she  turned  to  Nina. 

"  What  is  it  you  want  ?" 

But  the  crisis  found  Nina  quite  unprepared.  She  had  con- 
structed no  set  speech ;  she  had  formulated  no  demand.  For  a 
second  or  so  she  stood  tongue-tied — tongue-tied  and  helpless — 
unable  to  put  her  passionate  appeal  into  words ;  then,  all  of  a 
sudden,  she  said, 

*'  Miss  Burgoyne,  you  will  not  allow  it — this  folly  !  It  is 
madness  that  they  fight  about — about  nothing!  You  will  not 
allow  it! — 'what  is  it  to  you? — you  have  enough  fame,  enough 
reputation  as  a  prima  -  donna,  as  a  favorite  with  the  public — 
what  more?  Why  should  you  wish  more — and  at  such  a  dread- 
ful risk?— " 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know  what  you're  talking  about !"  said  Miss 
Burgoyne.     "  What  are  you  talking  about  ?" 

"  The  duel — "  said  Nina,  breathlessly. 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  93 

"  What  duel  ?" 

Nina  stared  at  her. 

"  Ah,  you  do  not  know,  then  ?"  she  exclaimed. 

"  What  don't  I  know  ?"  Miss  Burgoyne  said,  impatiently. 
"  What  are  you  talking  about !  What  duel  ?  Is  it  something  in 
the  evening  papers  ?     Or  have  you  taken  leave  of  your  senses  ?" 

Nina  paid  no  heed  to  these  taunts. 

"  You  do  not  know,  then,"  she  asked,  "  that — that  Mr.  Moore 
is  going  to  fight  a  duel — with  a  young  gentleman  who  is  your 
friend  ?     No  ? — you  do  not  know  it  ?" 

It  was  Miss  Burgoyne's  turn  to  stare  in  amazement. 

"  Mr.  Moore  ?"  she  repeated,  with  her  eyes  (which  were  pretty 
and  coquettish  enough,  though  they  were  not  on  the  same 
plane)  grown  wide  and  wondering.  "  A  friend  of  mine  ?  And 
you  come  to  me — as  if  I  had  anything  to  do  with  it  ?  Oh,  my 
goodness  !"  she  suddenly  exclaimed,  and  a  curious  smile  of  in- 
telligence began  to  dawn  upon  her  face.  "  Has  that  young 
donkey  carried  the  matter  so  far  as  that  ?" 

But  she  was  not  displeased ;  nay,  she  was  rather  inclined  to 
laugh. 

"  Well,  that  would  make  a  stir,  wouldn't  it  ?  And  how  did 
you  find  it  out  ? — who  told  you  ?  A  duel  ?  I  thought  he  was 
talking  rather  mysteriously  yesterday  morning — Conrad  the  Cor- 
sair kind  of  thing — glooms  and  daggers — so  it  was  a  duel  he 
was  thinking  of  ?  But  they  are  not  really  going  to  fight.  Miss 
Ross,"  continued  Miss  Burgoyne,  who  had  grown  quite  friend- 
ly. "  You  know  people  can't  give  up  an  engagement  at  a  thea- 
tre to  go  and  fight  a  duel :  it's  only  French  gentlemen  who  have 
no  occupation  who  do  that  sort  of  thing.  A  duel  ? — a  real,  ac- 
tual duel — do  you  seriously  mean  it  ?" 

The  prospect  seemed  to  afford  her  great  satisfaction,  if  not 
even  a  cause  for  merriment. 

"  Miss  Burgoyne,  you  will  not  permit  it !"  Nina  exclaimed. 

«•  I  ?"  said  the  other.  "  What  have  I  to  do  with  it  ?  If  two 
men  want  to  fight,  why  shouldn't  they  ?"  said  she,  with  apparent 
carelessness. 

"  Ah,  but  you  know  well  what  you  have  to  do  with  it,"  Nina 
said,  with  some  touch  of  scorn.  "  Yes,  you  pretend  ;  but  you 
know  it  well.  The  young  man  he  goes  from  you  yesterday  to 
provoke  the  duel — you  have  been  talking  to  him — and  yet  you 


94  PRINCE    FORTUUATUS. 

pretend.  You  say,  why  should  they  not  fight  ?  Then  it  is 
nothing  to  you  that  one  friend  or  the  other  friend  may  be 
killed  ? — that  is  nothing  to  you  ? — and  you  know  you  can  pre- 
vent it  if  you  choose.  You  do  not  wish  to  interfere — it  will 
be  amusing  to  read  in  the  papers  !  Oh,  very  amusing !  And 
if  the  one  is  killed  ?" 

"  But  you  know.  Miss  Ross,  they  don't  go  such  lengths  nowa- 
days," said  Miss  Burgoyne,  with  great  good-humor.  "  No,  no  ; 
it's  only  honor  and  glory  they  go  out  for ;  it's  only  the  name  of 
the  thing ;  they  don't  want  to  kill  each  other.  Besides,  if  two 
men  mean  to  fight,  how  can  a  woman  interfere  ?  What  is  she 
supposed  to  know  of  the  cause  of  quarrel?  These  things  are 
not  supposed  to  be  known." 

"  Then,"  said  Nina,  whose  lips  had  grown  still  more  indig- 
nant and  scornful, "  this  is  what  I  say :  if  anything  happens,  it 
is  your  conscience  that  will  speak  to  you  in  after  time.  You 
wish  them  to  fight,  yes,  for  your  vanity  to  be  pleased  ! — you 
wish  it  said  that  they  fight  about  you  !  And  that  is  a  trionf 
for  you — something  in  the  papers — and  you  do  not  care  what 
harm  is  done  if  you  are  talked  about !  That  is  your  friend- 
ship ! — what  do  you  care  ? — any  one  may  be  sacrificed  to  your 
vanity — " 

"  I  suppose  if  they  were  fighting  about  you,  you  wouldn't  say 
a  word  against  it !"  observed  Miss  Burgoyne,  coolly.  In  fact 
the  vehement  reproaches  that  Nina  had  addressed  to  her  did  not 
seem  to  have  offended  her  in  the  least ;  for  she  went  on  to  say, 
in  the  best  of  tempers :  "  Well,  Miss  Ross,  I  have  to  thank  you 
for  bringing  me  the  news.  But  don't  be  alarmed  ;  these  dread- 
ful duels,  even  when  they  get  into  the  newspapers,  seldom  show- 
much  harm  done.  And  in  the  meantime  will  you  excuse  me  ? 
— Jane  is  grumbling  in  there,  I  know.  Tell  me  anything  you 
may  hear  about  it  by  and  by — and  meanwhile  I  am  very  much 
obliged  to  you."  So  Nina  found  herself  dismissed,  neither  her 
piteous  appeal  nor  her  indignant  protest  having  had  apparently 
any  effect  whatever. 

But  Miss  Burgoyne,  while  transforming  herself  into  Grace 
Mainwaring,  had  plenty  of  time  to  think  over  this  startling  po- 
sition of  affairs,  and  to  consider  how  she  could  best  use  it  to 
her  own  advantage.  She  had  a  nimble  brain  ;  and  it  may  liave 
occurred  to  her  that  here  was  a  notable  chance  for  her  to  dis- 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  95 

play  the  splendid  macrnaniraity  of  her  disposition — to  overwhelm 
Mr.  Lionel  Moore  with  her  forgiveness  and  her  generous  inter- 
vention on  his  behalf.  At  all  events,  in  the  first  scene  in  which 
these  two  met  on  the  stage,  Harry  Thornhill  became  instantly 
aware  that  the  merry  and  mischievous  Grace  Mainwaring  ap- 
peared bent  on  being  very  friendly  towards  him  —  even  while 
she  looked  curiously  at  him,  as  if  there  were  something  in  her 
mind.  Moreover,  she  seemed  in  excellent  spirits ;  there  was  no 
perfunctory  "  drag  "  in  her  give-and-take  speeches  with  the  ad- 
venturous young  gentleman  whom  fate  had  thrown  in  her  way. 
He  was  very  well  pleased  to  find  the  scene  going  so  well;  he 
sang  his  share  in  the  parting  duet  with  unusual  verve;  she  re- 
sponded with  equal  animation  ;  the  crowded  house  gave  them 
an  enthusiastic  recall.  But  the  public  could  not  tell  that,  even 
in  the  midst  of  this  artistic  triumph,  the  audacious  young  lover 
had  his  own  thoughts  in  his  head ;  and  that  he  was  really  say- 
ing to  himself,  "  What  the  mischief  is  she  at  now  ?" 

He  was  to  learn  later  on  in  the  evening.  Just  as  he  got 
dressed  for  the  ball-room  scene,  a  message  was  brought  him  that 
Miss  Burgoyne  would  like  to  see  him  for  a  minute  or  two  as 
soon  as  he  was  ready.  Forthwith  he  went  to  her  room,  tapped 
at  her  door,  entered,  and  found  himself  the  sole  occupant ;  but 
the  next  moment  the  curtain  concealing  the  dressing-room  was 
opened  about  five  feet  from  the  ground ;  and  there  (the  rest  of 
her  person  being  concealed)  he  beheld  the  smiling  face  of  Grace 
Mainwaring,  with  its  sparkling  eyes  and  rouge  and  patches,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  magnificent  white  wig  with  its  nodding  sprays 
of  brilliants. 

"  Just  a  moment,  Mr.  Moore,"  said  she,  "  and  I  shall  be  with 
you  directly  " — and  therewith  the  vision  was  gone,  and  the  crim- 
son curtains  came  together  again. 

Very  shortly  thereafter  the  Squire's  Daughter  came  forth  in 
all  the  splendor  of  her  white  satin  and  pearls ;  and  she  lost  no 
time  in  letting  him  know  why  he  had  been  summoned. 

"  You  are  a  veiy  bloodthirsty  man,"  said  she,  in  accents  of 
grave  reproach  (though  her  eyes  were  not  so  serious),  "  and  I 
am  ashamed  of  you  that  you  should  think  of  harming  that  poor 
boy ;  but  I  am  not  going  to  allow  it — " 

"  Why,  who  told  you  anything  about  it  ?"  he  said ;  for  he 
could  not  pretend  not  to  know  what  she  meant. 


90  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"A  little  bird,"  she  made  answer,  witli  much  complacence. 
"  And  the  idea  that  you  should  really  want  to  do  such  a  thing ! 
— how  many  voices  like  yours  are  there  wandering  about  in 
comedy-opera  that  you  should  consider  you  have  any  right  to 
run  such  a  risk  ?  I  don't  mean  being  killed — I  mean  catching 
a  cold !  I  suppose  you  have  got  to  take  your  coat  and  waist- 
coat off — on  Calais  sands — with  a  wind  blowing  in  from  the 
sea  ;  that  is  a  nice  thing  for  your  chest  and  throat,  isn't  it  ? 
Well,  I'm  going  to  step  in  and  prevent  it.  I  consider  you  have 
treated  me  very  badly — pretending  you  didn't  see  me,  when  you 
were  so  very  particularly  engaged  ;  but  never  mind ;  I  never 
bear  malice ;  and,  as  I  say,  I'm  going  to  step  in  and  prevent 
this  piece  of  folly." 

"  Very  much  obliged,  I  am  sure,"  he  said,  politely.  "  When 
men  propose  to  fight,  it  is  so  extremely  pleasant  to  find  a  woman 
appear  to  throw  a  protecting  arm  over  them  !" 

"  Oh,  I  am  not  going  to  be  repelled  by  any  of  your  ferocious 
sentiments,"  said  she,  good-naturedly.  "  I  am  a  friend  of  both 
of  you — I  hope ;  and  I  won't  have  anything  of  the  kind — I  tell 
you  I  won't  allow  it — " 

"  I'm  afraid  your  intervention  has  come  too  late,"  said  he, 
quietly. 

"  Why  ?"  she  demanded. 

"  Oh,  it  isn't  worth  speaking  about,"  said  he.  "  The  young 
gentleman  went  a  little  too  far — he  has  got  to  be  taught  a  les- 
son, that  is  all — " 

"  Oh,  listen  to  him  ! — listen  to  his  bloodthirstiness !"  she  ex- 
claimed, in  affected  horror ;  and  then  she  suddenly  altered  her 
tone.  "  Come,  now,  Mr.  Moore,  you're  not  seriously  going  to  try 
to  harm  that  poor  boy  1  He  is  a  very  nice  boy,  as  honest  and 
simple-minded  as  you  could  wish.  And  such  a  pretty  boy,  too 
— no,  no,  it  is  quite  absurd — " 

"  You  arc  right  there,"  said  he.  "  It  is  quite  absurd.  The 
whole  thing  is  absurd.     But  it  has  gone  too  far." 

Here  Miss  Burgoyne  was  called. 

"  Will  you  leave  it  in  my  hands  ?"  she  said,  leisurely  rising 
from  her  chair,  and  tucking  up  her  long  train  so  that  she  might 
safely  [)ass  into  the  wings. 

"  Certainly  not,"  said  he.  "  You  have  no  right  to  know  any- 
thing about  it.     The  quarrel  was  forced  upon  me ;  I  had  no 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  97 

wish  to  harm  your  pretty  boy,  nor  Imve  I  much  now — except 
in  trying  to  keep  myself  from  being  harmed.  But  that  is  all 
over  now  ;  and  this  thing  has  to  be  seen  through  to  the  end 
now." 

He  held  open  the  door  for  her  ;  and  then  he  accompanied  her 
along  the  passage  and  up  the  steps,  until  they  were  both  ready 
for  their  entrance  on  the  stage. 

"  Men  are  so  obstinate,"  said  she,  with  an  air  of  vexation ; 
"  so  obstinate  and  foolish.  But  I  don't  care ;  I'll  see  if  I  can't 
get  something  done ;  I  won't  allow  two  dear  friends  of  mine  to 
do  anything  so  stupid  if  I  can  help  it.  Why,  the  idea ! — get- 
ting into  a  quarrel  with  a  harmless  young  fellow  like  that !  You 
ought  to  have  been  kind  to  him  for  my  sake — for  he  really  is 
such  a  dear  boy — so  simple  and  good-natured — " 

"  But  where  is  Grace?''''  said  a  voice  out  there  in  the  wide  ball- 
room ;  and  as  this  was  Miss  Burgoyne's  cue,  she  tripped  lightly 
on  to  the  stage  with  her  smiling  answer :  "  One  kiss,  jjapa,  be- 
fore the  guests  arrivey  And,  as  it  turned  out,  there  was  no  fur- 
ther opportunity  of  talk  that  night  between  Miss  Burgoyne  and 
Mr.  Lionel  Moore. 

But  two  days  thereafter,  and  just  as  Lionel  was  about  to  go 
out  for  his  morning  ride,  the  house-porter  brought  him  a  card. 
It  was  Mr.  Percival  Miles  who  was  below. 

"  Ask  the  gentleman  to  come  up." 

Here  were  the  preliminaries  of  battle,  then.  Lionel  had  a 
vague  kind  of  notion  that  the  fire-eating  youth  ought  not  to 
have  appeared  in  person — that  he  ought  to  have  been  represented 
by  a  friend ;  however,  it  was  not  of  much  consequence.  He 
only  hoped  that  there  would  be  no  further  altercation  or  throw- 
ing of  ink-bottles ;  otherwise  he  considered  it  probable  that  this 
interview  would  terminate  in  a  more  English  manner  than  the 
last. 

The  young  gentleman  came  in,  hat  in  hand.  He  was  appar- 
ently very  calm  and  dignified. 

"  Mr.  Moore,"  said  he,  slowly,  as  if  he  were  repeating  words 
already  carefully  chosen,  "  I  am  about  to  take  an  unusual  course. 
I  have  been  asked  to  do  so — I  have  been  constrained  to  do  so 
— by  the  one  person  whose  wish  in  such  a  matter  must  be  re- 
spected, I  have  come  to  apologize  to  you  for  my  conduct  of 
the  other  day." 


98  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  Oh,  very  well,"  said  Lionel,  but  somewhat  coldly ;  he  did 
not  seem  well  satisfied  that  this  young  man  should  get  off  so 
easily,  after  his  unheard-of  insolence.  Indeed,  Lionel  was  very 
much  in  the  position  of  the  irate  old  Scotchwoman  whose  toes 
were  trodden  upon  by  a  man  in  a  crowd.  "  I  beg  your  pardon," 
said  the  culprit.  "  Begging  my  paurdon  '11  no  dae,"  was  the 
retort,  "  I'm  gaun  to  gie  ye  a  skelp  o'  the  lug  !" 

"  I  hope  you  will  accept  my  apology,"  the  pale-faced  young 
gentleman  continued  in  the  same  stiif  and  embarrassed  manner. 
"  I  don't  know  whether  it  is  worth  while  my  offering  any  excuse 
for  what  I  did — except  that  it  was  done  under  a  misapprehen- 
sion. The — the  lady  in  question  seemed  annoyed — perhaps  I 
mistook  the  meaning  of  certain  phrases  she  used — and  certainly 
I  must  have  been  entirely  in  error  in  guessing  as  to  what  she 
wished  me  to  do.  I  take  the  whole  blame  on  myself.  I  acted 
hastily — on  the  spur  of  the  moment ;  and  now  I  am  exceeding- 
ly sorry ;  and  I  ask  your  pardon." 

"  Oh,  very  well,"  Lionel  said,  though  somewhat  ungraciously. 
"  But  you  see  you  are  getting  rather  the  best  of  this  perform- 
ance. You  come  here  with  a  ridiculous  cock-and-bull  story, 
you  threaten  and  vapor  and  kick  up  mock-heroics,  you  throw  a 
bottle  of  ink  over  a  book  belonging  to  a  friend  of  mine — and 
then  you  are  to  get  off  by  saying  two  or  three  words  of  apology  1" 

"  What  can  I  do  more  ?"  said  the  humble  penitent.  "  I  have 
tried  to  explain.  I — I  was  as  ready  to  fight  as  you  could  be ; 
but — but  now  I  obey  the  person  who  has  the  best  right  to  say 
what  shall  be  done  in  such  an  affair.  I  have  made  every  apol- 
ogy and  explanation  I  could ;  and  1  ask  your  pardon." 

"  Oh,  very  well,"  Lionel  said  again. 

"  Will  you  give  me  your  hand,  then  ?"  Mr.  Pcrcival  Miles 
asked ;  and  he  somewhat  timidly  advanced  a  step,  with  out- 
stretched palm. 

"  That  isn't  necessary,"  said  Lionel,  making  no  other  response. 

The  fair-haired  young  warrior  seemed  greatly  embarrassed. 

"I — I  was  told — "  he  stammered;  but  Lionel,  who  was  now 
inclined  to  laugh,  broke  in  on  his  confusion. 

"  Did  Miss  Burgoyne  say  you  weren't  to  come  away  without 
shaking  hands  with  me — is  that  it?"  he  asked,  with  a  smile. 

"  Y — yes,"  answered  the  young  gentleman,  blushing  furiously, 

"  Oh,  very  well,  there's  no  trouble  about  that,"  Lionel  said. 


I'RINCE    FORTUNATUS.  99 

and  he  gave  him  his  hand  for  a  second ;  after  which  tlie  love- 
lorn youth  somewhat  hastily  withdrew,  and  no  doubt  was  glad 
to  lose  himself  in  the  busy  crowd  of  Piccadilly. 

That  same  afternoon  Lionel  drove  down  to  Sloane  Street.  He 
was  always  glad  to  go  along  and  have  a  friendly  little  chat  about 
musical  affairs  with  the  eagerly  enthusiastic  Nina ;  and,  as  this 
particular  evening  w^as  exceedingly  fine  and  pleasant,  he  thought 
he  might  induce  her  to  walk  in  to  the  theatre  by  way  of  Bel- 
grave  Square  and  the  Green  Park.  But  hardly  had  they  left  the 
house  when  Nina  discovered  that  it  was  not  about  professional 
matters  that  Lionel  wanted  to  talk  to  her  on  this  occasion. 

"  Nina,"  said  he,  with  befitting  solemnity,  "  I  have  great  news 
for  you.  I  am  saved.  Yes,  my  life  has  been  saved.  And  by 
whom,  think  you  ?  Why,  by  Miss  Burgoyne  !  Miss  Burgoyne 
is  the  protecting  goddess  who  has  snatched  me  away  in  a  cloud 
just  as  mv  enemy  was  about  to  pin  me  to  the  earth  with  his  jav- 
elin." 

"  There  is  to  be  no  duel,  Leo  ?"  she  said,  quickly. 

"  There  is  not,"  he  continued.  "  Miss  Burgoyne  has  forbid- 
den it.  She  has  come  between  me  and  my  deadly  foe  and  held 
up  a  protecting  hand.  I  don't  know  that  it  is  quite  a  dignified 
position  for  me  to  find  myself  in,  but  one  must  recognize  her 
friendly  intentions,  anyway.  And  not  only  that,  Nina,  but  she 
sent  me  a  bottle  of  lemonade  yesterday !  Just  think  of  it !  to 
save  your  life  is  something,  but  to  send  you  lemonade  as  well — 
that  is  almost  too  much  goodness." 

Poor  Nina !  If  this  careless  young  man  had  only  looked  at 
the  address  on  the  wrapper  of  the  bottle  he  could  easily  have 
guessed  whose  was  the  handwriting — especially  recognizable  in 
the  foreign-looking  L  and  M.  That  timidly  proffered  little  gift 
was  Nina's  humble  effort  at  compensation ;  and  now  he  was 
bringing  it  forward  as  a  proof  of  Miss  Burgoyne's  great  good- 
nature !  And  it  was  Miss  Burgoyne  who  had  intervened  to  pre- 
vent this  absurd  duel — Miss  Burgoyne,  who  knew  nothing  at  all 
about  it  until  Nina  told  her !  Nina,  as  they  now  walked  along 
towards  Constitution  Hill,  was  too  proud  to  make  any  explanation ; 
only  she  thought  he  might  have  looked  at  the  address  on  the 
wrapper. 

"  Seriously,"  he  said  to  his  companion,  "  seriously,  Nina,  she 
has  put  me  under  a  very  great  obligation  and  shown  herself  very 


100  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

magnanimous  as  well.  There  is  no  doubt  she  was  offended  with 
me  about  something  or  other  ;  and  she  had  the  generosity  to  put 
all  that  aside  the  moment  she  found  I  was  embroiled  in  this  stu- 
pid affair.  And,  mind  you,  I'm  very  glad  to  be  out  of  it.  It 
would  have  looked  ridiculous  in  the  papers;  and  everything 
gets  into  the  papers  nowadays.  Of  course  that  young  idiot  had 
no  right  to  go  and  tell  her  about  the  duel ;  but  I  suppose  he 
wanted  to  figure  as  a  hero  in  her  eyes — poor  devil !  he  seems 
pretty  bad  about  ber.  Well,  now  that  her  intervention  has  got 
me  out  of  this  awkward  scrape,  how  am  I  to  show  my  gratitude 
to  her  ?  what  do  you  say,  Nina  ?" 

But  Nina  had  nothing  to  say. 

"  There's  one  thing  I  can  do  for  her,"  he  continued.  "  You 
know  how  fond  actors  and  actresses  are  of  titled  folks.  Well, 
Miss  Burgoyne  is  going  down  to  Henley  Regatta  with  a  lot  of 
other  professionals,  and  I  am  going  too,  with  another  party — 
Lady  Adela  Cunyngham  has  got  a  house-boat  there.  Very  well, 
if  I  can  find  out  where  Miss  Burgoyne  is — and  I  dare  say  she 
will  be  conspicuous  enough,  though  she's  not  very  tall — I  will 
take  Lord  Rockminster  to  pay  his  respects  to  her  and  leave  him 
with  her  ;  won't  that  do  ?  They  have  already  been  introduced 
at  the  theatre  ;  and  if  Rockminster  doesn't  say  much,  I  have  no 
doubt  she  will  chatter  enough  for  both.  And  Miss  Burgoyne 
will  be  quite  pleased  to  have  a  lord  all  to  herself." 

"  Leo,"  said  Nina,  gently,  "  do  you  not  think  you  yourself 
have  too  much  liking  for — for  that  fine  company  ?" 

"  Perhaps  I  have,"  said  he,  with  perfect  good-humor.  "  What 
then  ?  Are  you  going  to  lecture  me,  too  ?  Is  Saul  among  the 
prophets  ?     Has  Maurice  Mangan  been  coaching  you  as  well  ?" 

"  Ah,  Leo,"  said  she,  "  I  should  wish  to  see  you  give  it  all  up 
— yes — all  the  popularity — and  your  fine  company — and  that 
you  go  away  back  to  Pandiani — " 

"  Pandiani !"  he  exclaimed,  "  Here's  romance,  indeed  !  You 
want  us  both  to  become  students  again,  and  to  have  the  old  days 
at  Naples  back  again — " 

"  No,  no,  no  !"  she  said,  shaking  her  head.  "  It  is  the  future 
I  think  of.  I  wish  to  hear  you  in  grand  opera  or  in  oratorio — 
I  wish  to  see  you  a  great  artist — that  is  something  noble,  some- 
thing ambitious,  something  to  work  for  day  and  night.  Ah, 
Leo,  when  I  hear  Mr.  Santlcy  sing  '  Why  do  the  iialioas' — when 


PRINCK    FORTUNATUS.  101 

I  see  the  thousands  and  thousands  of  people  sitting  entranced, 
then  I  say  to  myself,  '  There  is  something  grand  and  noble  to 
speak  to  all  these  people — to  lift  them  above  themselves,  to  give 
them  this  pure  emotion,  surely  that  is  a  great  thing — it  is  high, 
like  religion — it  is  a  purification — it  is — ' "  But  here  she  stopped, 
with  a  little  gesture  of  despair.  '<  No,  no,  Leo,  I  cannot  tell  you 
— I  have  not  enough  English." 

"  It's  all  very  well,"  said  he,  "  for  you  to  talk  about  Santley  ; 
but  where  will  you  get  another  voice  like  his  ?" 

"  Leo,  you  can  sing  finer  music  than  *  The  Starry  Night,'  "  she 
said.  "  You  have  the  capacity.  Ah,  but  you  enjoy  too  much ; 
you  are  petted  and  spoiled,  yes ;  you  have  not  a  great  ambition — " 

"  I'll  tell  you  what  I  seem  to  have,  though,  Nina,"  said  he. 
"  I  seem  to  have  a  faculty  of  impressing  my  friends  with  the 
notion  that  I  could  do  something  tremendous  if  only  I  tried ; 
whereas  I  know  that  this  belief  of  theirs  is  only  a  delusion." 

"But  you  do  not  try,  Leo,"  said  this  persistent  counsellor. 
"  No ;  life  is  too  pleasant  for  you ;  you  have  not  enthusiasm ; 
why,  your  talk  is  always  persiflage — it  is  the  talk  of  the  fashion- 
able world.     And  you  an  artist !" 

However,  at  this  moment  Lionel  suddenly  discovered  that  this 
leisurely  stroll  was  likely  to  make  them  late  in  getting  to  the 
theatre  ;  so  that  perforce  they  had  to  leave  these  peaceful  glades 
of  the  Green  Park  and  get  into  Piccadilly,  where  they  jumped 
into  a  hansom-cab  and  were  rapidly  whirled  away  eastward. 

But  if  Lionel  was  to  be  reproached  for  his  lack  of  ambition, 
that  was  a  charge  which  could  not  be  brought  against  certain  of 
those  fashionable  friends  of  his  at  whom  Nina  (in  unconscious 
collusion  with  Maurice  Mangan)  seemed  inclined  to  look  askance. 
At  the  very  height  of  the  London  season  Lady  Adela  Cunyng- 
ham  and  her  sisters.  Lady  Sybil  and  Lady  Rosamund  Bourne, 
had  taken  the  town  by  storm ;  and  it  seemed  probable  that,  be- 
fore they  departed  for  Scotland,  they  would  leave  quite  a  trail 
of  glory  behind  them  in  the  social  firmament.  The  afternoon 
production  of  "  The  Chaplet,"  in  the  gardens  of  Sir  Hugh's 
house  on  Campden  Hill,  had  been  a  most  notable  festivity, 
doubtless  ;  but  then  it  was  a  combination  affair ;  for  Miss  Georgie 
Lestrange  had  shared  in  the  honors  of  the  occasion ;  moreover, 
they  had  professional  assistance  given  them  by  Mr.  Lionel  Moore. 
It  was  when  the  three  sisters  attacked  their  own  particular  pur- 


102  PRINCE    F0RTUNATU8. 

suits  that  their  individual  genius  shone,  and  marked  success 
had  attended  their  separate  efforts.  His  royal  highness,  the 
commander-in-chief,  it  is  true,  had  not  as  yet  invited  the  colonels 
of  the  British  army  to  recommend  Lady  Sybil's  "  Soldiers'  March- 
ing Song "  to  the  band-masters  of  the  various  regiments,  but,  in 
default  of  that,  this  composition  was  performed  nightly,  as  the 
concluding  ceremony,  at  the  international  exhibition  then  open 
in  London ;  and  as  the  piece  was  played  by  the  combined  bands 
of  the  Royal  Marines,  with  the  drums  of  the  1st  Battalion  Gren- 
adier Guards,  the  Highland  Pipers  of  the  2d  Battalion  Scots 
Guards,  and  the  drums  of  the  2d  Battalion  Grenadier  Guards, 
the  resultant  noise  was  surely  sufBcient  to  satisfy  the  hungriest 
vanity  of  any  composer,  professional  or  amateur,  who  ever  lived. 
Then  not  only  had  Lady  Rosamund  exhibited  a  large  picture  at 
the  Lansdowne  Gallery  (a  decorative  work  this  was,  represent- 
ing the  manumission  of  a  slave,  with  the  legend  underneath, 
"  Hunc  hominem  liberum  esse  volo  "),  but  also  the  proprietors  of 
an  illustrated  weekly  newspaper  had  published  in  their  summer 
number,  as  a  colored  supplement,  what  she  had  ventured  to  call 
"An  All-the-year-round  Valentine."  She  had  taken  the  follow- 
ing rhyme  (or  perhaps  some  one  had  found  it  for  her) — 

"  In  these  fair  violets  of  the  veins, 
The  verdure  of  the  spring  remains  ; 
Ripe  cheriies  on  thy  lips  display 
The  lustre  of  the  summer  day  ; 
If  I  for  autumn  were  to  seek, 
I'd  view  the  apples  on  thy  cheek ; 
There's  nought  could  give  me  paiu  in  thee, 
But  winter  in  thy  heart  to  see." 

— and  she  had  drawn  four  pretty  little  landscapes,  which,  when 
reproduced  on  one  sheet  by  chromo-lithography,  looked  very 
neat  and  elegant,  while  the  fair  artist  was  much  gratified  to  ob- 
serve her  name  figuring  on  the  placards  at  rail  way -stations  or  on 
the  boards  in  front  of  stationers'  shops,  as  she  drove  along  Ken- 
sington High  Street. 

But,  of  course,  the  crowning  achievement  of  the  gifted  family 
was  Lady  Adela  Cunyngliam's  novel.  If  it  was  not  quite  the 
success  of  the  season,  as  far  as  the  outer  world  was  concerned, 
it  certainly  was  the  most-talked-of  book  among  Lady  Adda's 
own  set.     Every  character  in  it  was  identified  as  somebody  or 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  IQ3 

another ;  and  although  Lady  Adela,  as  a  true  artist,  maintained 
that  she  did  not  draw  individuals,  but  types,  she  could  not  stem 
the  tide  of  this  harmless  curiosity,  and  had  to  submit  to  the 
half-humorous  inquiries  and  flattering  insinuations  of  her  friends. 
As  for  the  outer  world,  if  it  remained  indifferent,  that  only  showed 
its  lack  of  gratitude  ;  for  here,  there,  and  everywhere,  among  the 
evening  and  weekly  papers  (the  morning  papers  were,  perhaps, 
too  busy  with  politics  at  the  time),  attention  was  drawn  to  Lady 
Arthur  Castletown's  charming  and  witty  romance  of  modern  life. 
Alp  called  to  Alp,  and  deep  to  deep,  throughout  Satan's  invisi- 
ble world  ;  "  Kathleen's  Sweethearts  "  was  dragged  in  (apparently 
with  ten  men  pushing  behind)  for  casual  allusion  in  "Our  Weekly 
Note-book ;"  Lady  Arthur's  smart  sayings  were  quoted  in  the  gos- 
sip attached  to  this  or  that  monthly  magazine  ;  the  correspondent 
of  a  country  journal  would  hasten  to  say  that  it  was  not  neces- 
sary to  inform  his  readers  that  Lady  Arthur  Castletown  was,  in 
reality.  Lady  Adela  Cunyngham,  the  wife  of  the  well-known 
breeder  of  polled  cattle.  Sir  Hugh  Cunyngham  of  the  Braes. 
In  the  midst  of  all  this  Lionel  went  to  his  friend  Maurice  Mangan. 

"  Look  here,  Maurice,"  said  he,  "  that  book  can't  be  as  bad 
as  you  tried  to  make  out." 

"  It  is  the  most  insensate  trash  that  was  ever  put  between 
boards,"  was  the  prompt  reply. 

"  But  how  can  that  be  ?    Look  at  what  the  papers  say  !" 

"  The  papers — what  papers  ?  That  isn't  what  the  papers  say — 
that  is  what  the  small  band  of  log-rollers  say,  calling  indus- 
triously to  one  another,  like  frogs  in  a  pond.  Didn't  I  tell  you 
what  would  happen  if  you  got  hold  of  Octavius  Quirk,  or  any 
one  of  them  ?  How  many  dinners  did  your  swell  friends  ex- 
pend on  Quirk  ?" 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know.     He  is  pretty  often  at  the  house." 

"  He  is  pretty  often  at  the  house,  is  he  ?"  Mangan  repeated. 

"  I  hope  they  won't  ask  him  to  Scotland,"  Lionel  said,  rue- 
fully. "  I  can't  bear  the  fellow ;  it's  just  as  you  say,  he's  al- 
w'ays  in  a  whirlwind  of  insistence  —  about  nothing;  and  he 
doesn't  grin  through  a  horse-collar,  he  roars  and  guffaws  through 
it.  But  then,  you  see,  he  has  been  very  kind  about  this  book ; 
and,  of  course,  a  new  author,  like  Lady  Adela,  is  grateful.  I 
admit  what  you  say  is  right  enougli — perhaps  the  family  are  a 
little  anxious  for  notoriety  ;  but  so  are  a  good  many  other  peo- 


104  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

pie ;  and  there's  no  great  harm  in  writing  or  painting  or  com- 
posing music  as  well  as  you  can.  Mind,  I  think  there's  a  little 
professional  jealousy  about  you,  Maurice,"  continued  this  sage 
Mentor,  "  You  don't  like  a  woman  of  fashion  to  come  into 
your  literary  circles.  But  why  shouldn't  she  ?  I'm  sure  I  don't 
object  when  any  one  of  them  tries  to  produce  a  little  dramatic 
or  musical  piece ;  on  the  contrary,  I  would  rather  help.  And 
look  at  Mellord — the  busiest  painter  of  the  day — look  at  the 
trouble  he  takes  in  advising  Lady  Rosamund ;  she  has  the  free 
entree  into  his  studio,  no  matter  who  is  sitting  to  him,  I  think, 
for  amateurs,  the  work  of  all  the  three  sisters  is  very  creditable 
to  them ;  and  I  don't  see  why  they  shouldn't  like  to  have  the 
appreciation  of  the  public,  just  as  other  people  like  it," 

"  My  dear  fellow,"  Mangan  said,  but  with  obvious  indiflfer- 
ence,  "  do  you  think  I  resent  the  fact  of  your  friend  Lady  Ar- 
thur or  Lady  Adela  writing  a  foolish  novel  ?  Far  from  it.  You 
asked  my  opinion  of  it,  and  I  told  you  ;  if  you  don't  see  for 
yourself  that  the  book  is  absolute  trash — but  harmless  trash,  as 
I  think — then  you  are  in  a  happy  condition  of  mind,  for  you 
must  be  easily  pleased.  Come,  let's  talk  of  something  worth 
talking  about.     Have  you  been  down,  to  Winstead  lately  ?" 

"  No — never  since  that  Sunday." 

"  Do  you  know,  your  people  were  awfully  good  to  me,"  this 
long,  lank,  lazy-looking  man  went  on — but  now  he  seemed  more 
interested  than  when  talking  about  Lady  Adela's  novel.  "  1 
never  spent  a  more  delightful  evening — never.  I  wonder  they 
did  not  tarn  me  out,  though  ;  for  I  stayed  and  stayed,  and  never 
noticed  how  late  it  was  getting.  Missed  the  last  train,  of  course, 
and  walked  all  the  way  up  to  London  ;  not  a  bit  sorry,  either,  for 
the  night  was  cool,  and  there  was  plenty  of  starlight ;  I'd  walk 
twice  as  far  to  spend  another  such  evening.  I — I'm  thinking  of 
going  down  there  next  Sunday,"  he  added,  with  a  little  hesitation. 

"  Why  not  ?"    Lionel  said,  cordially  enough. 

"  You  see,"  Mangan  continued,  still  rather  hesitatingly,  "  the 
fact  is — I'm  rather  in  the  way  of  getting  illustrated  papers — 
and — and  summer  numbers — and  children's  books — I  mean,  when 
I  want  them,  I  can  get  them — for  lots  of  these  things  come  to 
the  newspaper  offices, and  they're  not  much  use  to  anybody;  so 
I  thought  I  would  just  make  up  a  parcel  and  send  it  down  to 
Miss  Frances,  don't  you  understand,  for  licr  sick  children — " 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  105 

"  I  dare  say  you  went  and  spent  a  lot  of  money,"  Lionel  said, 
witli  a  laugh. 

"  And  she  was  good  enough  to  write  back  that  it  was  just 
what  she  wanted ;  for  several  of  the  children — most  of  them,  I 
should  say — couldn't  read,  but  they  liked  looking  at  pictures. 
And  then  she  was  kind  enough  to  add  that  if  I  went  down  next 
Sunday,  she  would  take  me  to  see  how  the  things  had  been  dis- 
tributed— the  pictures  hung  up  on  walls,  and  so  forth — and — 
and  that's  why  I  think  I  may  go  down." 

"  Oh,  yes,  certainly,"  Lionel  said,  though  he  did  not  under- 
stand why  any  such  excuse  was  necessary. 

*'  Couldn't  you  come  down,  too,  Linn  ?"    Mangan  suggested. 

"  Oh,  no,  I  couldn't,  I'm  so  busy,"  was  the  immediate  reply. 
"  I'm  going  to  Scotland  the  first  or  second  week  in  August.  The 
doctor  advises  me  to  give  my  voice  a  long  rest ;  and  the  Cunyng- 
hams  have  asked  me  to  their  place  in  Ross-shire.  Besides,  I 
don't  care  about  singing  in  London  when  there's  nobody  but 
country  cousins,  and  none  too  many  of  them.  Of  course  I'll 
have  to  go  down  and  bid  the  old  folks  good-bye  before  starting 
for  Scotland,  and  Francie,  too.'  Mind  you  tell  that  wicked 
Francie  that  I  am  very  angry  with  her  for  not  having  come  up 
to  see  '  The  Squire's  Daughter.'  " 

"  Linn,"  said  his  friend,  after  a  second,  "  why  don't  you  take 
the  old  people  over  to  Aix  or  some  such  place  for  a  month  ? 
They're  so  awfully  proud  of  you ;  and  you  might  take  Miss 
Frances  as  well ;  she  seems  to  work  so  hard — she  deserves  a 
rest.     Wouldn't  that  be  as  sensible  as  going  to  Scotland  ?" 

"  My  good  chap,  I  would  do  that  in  a  moment — I  should  be 
delighted,"  said  he — for  he  was  really  a  most  generously  dis- 
posed young  man,  especially  as  regarded  money ;  time  was  of 
greater  consideration  with  him.  "  But  it's  no  use  thinking  of 
such  a  thing.  The  old  folks  are  much  too  content  with  home ; 
they  won't  travel.  And  Francie — she  wouldn't  come  away  from 
those  precious  babes.  Well,  I'm  off.  Mind  you  scold  Francie 
for  me  !" 

"  Perhaps,"  said  Mangan,  as  he  accompanied  his  friend  to 
the  door. 

So  it  was  that  on  a  certain  evening  in  August,  Lionel  Moore 
drove  up  to  Euston  Station  and  secured  a  sleeping-berth  in  the 
train  going  north ;  and  no  doubt  the  consciousness  that  after  a 
5* 


10(5  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

long  spell  of  hard  work  be  was  entering  upon  a  well-earned  holi- 
day was  a  very  welcome  and  comfortable  tbing.     If  only  be  bad 
been  a  little  more  reflective,  be  migbt  bave  set  to  work  (bere  in 
tbe  railway-carriage,  as  be  lit  bis  cigar,  and  proceeded  to  fix  up 
bis  reading-lamp)  and  gone  on  to  consider  bow  entirely  satis- 
factory all  bis  circumstances  were  at  tbis  moment.     Prince  For- 
tunatus,  indeed !    Was  ever    any  one   more   bappily  situated  ? 
Here  be  was,  young,  full  of  bealtb  and  bigb  spirits,  excellent- 
tempered,  and  sufficiently  good-looking ;  be  bad  acquired  a  lib- 
eral measure  of  fame  and  popularity  ;  be  bad  many  friends  ;  be 
bad  ample  means,  for  be  did  not  know  tbe  difference  between 
a  backer  and  a  layer,  nor  yet  tbe  difference  between  a  broker 
and  a  jobber — in  fact,  gambling,  eitber  in  stocks  or  on  tbe  turf, 
bad  never  even  occurred  to  bim  as  a  tbing  wortb  tbinking  about. 
But  tbere  was  sometbing  furtber  tban  all  tbis  for  wbicb  be  ougbt 
to  bave  been  profoundly  grateful.     As  tbe  long  train  tbundered 
away  into  tbe  nigbt,  tbere  was  no  dull  misery  of  farewell  weigb- 
ing  beavily  upon  bim  ;  tbere  were  no  longing  fancies  wandering 
wistfully  back  to  a  certain  bouse,  a  certain  figure,  a  pair  of  too- 
eloquent  eyes.     He  dragged  no  lengtbening  cbain  witb  bim  on 
tbis  journey  nortb.     For,  notwithstanding  bis  pleasant  compan- 
ionship with  Nina,  and  her  constant  sympathy  with  him  and  her 
interest  in  bis  professional  career ;  notwithstanding  the  affec- 
tionate regard  of  bis   cousin  Francie,  which  was  none  the  less 
sincere  that  it  remained  unspoken  and  only  to  be  guessed  at; 
notwithstanding  tbe  somewhat  jealous  favor  which  tbe  prima- 
donna  of  tbe  New  Theatre  seemed  inclined  to  bestow  on  him ; 
notwithstanding  tbe  pert  coquetries  and  fascinations  of  Miss 
Georgie   Lestrange,  to   say  nothing  of   the  blandishments  and 
pettings  showered  upon  him  by  crowds  of  ladies  of  exalted  rank, 
tbis  fortunate  young  man  (so  far  at  least  as  he  was  himself 
aware)  was  going  away  to  Scotland  quite  heart-whole. 


CHAPTER  Vn. 

IN     ST  RAT  II  AIV  RON. 


It  was  still  early  in  the  afternoon  when  Lionel  found  himself 
driving  along  a  loftily-winding  road  overlooking  the  wide  and 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  107 

fertile  valley  of  the  Aivron.  Right  down  below  him,  and  visible 
through  the  birch-trees,  was  the  river  itself,  of  a  brilliant,  clear- 
shining  blue,  save  where  in  some  more  distant  sweeps  it  shone 
a  silver-white  ;  on  the  other  side  of  the  broad  strath  rose  a  range 
of  hill  fringed  along  its  base  with  wood,  but  terminating  in  the 
west  in  far  altitudes  of  bare  rock  and  heather ;  while  now  and 
again  he  could  catch  a  glimpse  of  some  still  more  distant  peak 
or  shoulder,  no  doubt  belonging  to  the  remote  and  mountainous 
region  of  Assynt.  And  there,  in  the  middle  of  the  plain,  stood 
the  shooting-lodge  for  which  he  was  bound — a  long,  rambling 
building  or  series  of  buildings,  with  all  sorts  of  kennels  and  out- 
houses and  deer-houses  attached ;  and  as  he  was  regarding  this 
goal  and  aim  of  his  journey,  and  wondering  how  he  was  going 
to  get  across  the  swift-flowing  stream,  behold !  a  white  flutter- 
ing of  handkerchiefs  just  outside  the  porch.  It  was  a  signal  to 
him,  he  knew ;  and  he  returned  it  more  than  once — until,  in- 
deed, he  discovered  that  his  driver  was  leaving  the  road  and 
about  to  take  the  horses  down  a  rudely  cut  track  on  the 
hillside. 

"  I  say,  isn't  there  a  bridge  anywhere  ?"  he  asked  ;  for  he  was 
not  used  to  such  exploits. 

"  Aw,  no,  there's  no  brudge,"  the  old  Highland  driv^er  said, 
coolly,  as  he  jammed  down  the  brake.  "  But  we'll  do  ferry  well 
at  the  ford ;  the  water  is  not  so  high  the  now."  , 

"  And  when  the  water  is  high,  what  do  they  do  then  ?"  Lionel 
asked,  as  he  regarded  with  some  concern  the  almost  vertical 
pole  and  the  straining  harness. 

"  Aw,  well,  there  uss  a  boat ;  and  if  there's  a  spate  on  the 
ruvver  they  can  come  and  go ;  but  not  with  the  heavy  things. 
Ay,  I  hef  seen  tons  of  coal  waiting  for  them  at  Invershin  for 
near  a  fortnight  when  there  wass  a  heavy  spate  on  the  ruvver. 
The  leddies  are  so  particular  nowadays ;  peat  will  not  do  for 
them  for  the  cooking ;  naw,  they  must  hef  coal." 

But  now  the  horses  were  entering  the  stream,  and  the  old 
man's  loquacity  ceased.  The  animals,  however,  seemed  quite 
accustomed  to  this  performance ;  without  any  hesitation  they 
adventured  into  the  rapid  current,  and  splashed  their  way  for- 
ward, getting  such  footing  as  was  possible  among  the  big,  loose 
stones  and  shingle.  Indeed,  the  passage  was  effected  with  very 
little  trouble,  if  with  a  good  deal  of  jolting  and  bumping;  and 


108 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 


thereafter  there  was  a  pleasant  trot  along  some  sufficiently 
smooth  greensward  up  to  the  door  of  the  lodge. 

Yes,  here  were  the  three  tall  and  handsome  sisters,  looking 
very  picturesque  in  their  simple  Northern  attire ;  and  here  was 
Miss  Georgie  Lestrange  conspicuous  in  a  Tam  o'  Shanter  of  bright 
blue ;  and  no  sooner  had  the  young  man  descended  from  the 
wagonette  than  they  surrounded  him,  laughing  and  questioning, 
and  giving  him  the  heartiest  of  welcomes.  How  could  he  an- 
swer them  all  at  once  ?  When  the  poor  man  was  taken  into  the 
dining-room,  and  set  down  to  his  solitary  luncheon,  they  were 
all  for  waitinof  on  him  and  talking  to  him  at  the  same  time. 

"  It  is  so  awfully  kind  of  you  to  come,"  Lady  Adela  said, 
with  one  of  her  most  gracious  smiles.  "  Now  «we  shall  hear 
about  something  else  than  dogs  and  guns  and  grouse." 

"  Oh,  Mr.  Moore,"  cried  Lady  Rosamund  (who  was  the  young- 
est, and  had  a  bit  of  a  temper,  and  was  allowed  to  interfere  when 
she  liked),  "  do  you  know  a  masque  called  '  Alfred  '  ?  You  do  ? 
how  delightful !  Well,  then,  you  remember  the  visions  of  the 
future  kings  and  queens  that  pass  before  Alfred  when  he  is  in 
the  Isle  of  Athelney ;  how  can  I  get  that  done  in  the  open  air  ? 
What  kind  of  gauze  do  you  use  in  the  theatre  ?  Could  you  get 
me  a  bit  ?  And  would  painted  shades  do  instead  of  living  per- 
sons ? — you  see  we  have  so  few  people  to  come  and  go  on  up  here." 

"  And,  Mr.  Moore,"  cried  Lady  Sybil,  "  how  are  we  to  man- 
age about  an  accompaniment?  A  single  violin  is  no  use  out  in 
the  open.  Would  it  be  too  dreadful  if  we  had  a  harmonium 
concealed  somewhere  ?  We  could  get  one  from  Inverness ;  and 
you  know  a  harmonium  would  do  very  well  for  the  music  that 
introduces  the  visions." 

"  Mr.  Moore,"  put  in  Miss  Georgie  Lestrange,  with  a  com- 
plaining air,  "  fancy  their  having  given  me  another  of  Kitty 
Olive's  characters;  isn't  it  too  bad?  Why,  I'll  go  on  and  on 
until  I  identify  myself  with  her  altogether  ;  and  then,  you  know, 
Kitty  Olive  wasn't — I'm  afraid  she  wasn't  quite — " 

"  Oh,  Mrs.  Olive  was  all  right ;  she  was  a  great  friend  of  Dr. 
Johnson,"  Lionel  made  answer,  to  reassure  the  young  lady. 

"  But  I  wish  you  girls  would  leave  off  cliattering,  and  let  Mr. 
Moore  get  something  to  eat,"  the  young  matron  said,  impatient- 
ly ;  and  she  herself  was  so  kind  as  to  go  and  fetch  the  claret 
jug  from  the  side-table  and  fill  his  glass. 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  109 

However,  there  was  peace  in  store  for  him.  When  he  had 
finished  with  this  late  hinch,  Lady  Adcla  begged  him  to  excuse 
them  if  they  left  him  to  shift  for  himself  ;  they  were  busy  dress- 
making, she  said.  Would  she  send  for  one  of  the  keepers,  who 
would  show  him  one  or  two  of  the  nearest  pools,  so  that  he 
might  try  for  a  salmon  ?  The  gentlemen  had  all  gone  down  the 
strath,  to  test  some  new  rifle,  she  thought ;  this  was  out  of  con- 
sideration for  her,  for  she  could  not  bear  shooting  close  to  the 
house ;  would  he  walk  in  that  direction,  and  see  what  they  were 
doing  ? 

"  Don't  you  trouble,"  he  said,  instantly.  "  You  leave  me  to 
myself.  I  like  to  wander  about  and  find  out  my  surroundings. 
I  shall  go  down  to  the  river,  to  begin  with ;  I  saw  some  pictu- 
resque bits  higher  up  when  we  were  coming  along." 

"  You'll  almost  certainly  find  Honnor  Cunyngham  there,"  said 
Miss  Lestrange.     "  I  suppose  she  has  gone  storking,  as  usual." 

"Stalking?''  said  he,  in  some  amazement. 

"  No,  no — storking,  as  I  call  it.  She  haunts  the  side  of  the 
river  like  a  crane  or  a  heron,"  said  the  red-haired  damsel.  "  I 
think  she  would  rather  land  a  salmon  than  go  to  heaven." 

"  Georgie,"  said  the  young  matron,  severely,  "  you  are  not 
likely  ever  to  do  either ;  so  you  needn't  be  spiteful.  Come 
away  and  get  to  work.  Mr.  Moore,  we  dine  at  eight ;  and,  if 
you  are  anywhere  up  or  down  the  strath,  you'll  hear  the  bell 
over  the  stables  rung  at  seven,  and  then  at  half-past." 

So  they  went  off  and  left  him  ;  and  he  was  not  displeased  ;  he 
passed  out  by  the  front  door,  lit  a  cigar,  and  strolled  down  tow- 
ards the  banks  of  the  Aivron.  It  was  a  bright  and  sweet-aired 
afternoon ;  he  was  glad  to  be  at  the  end  of  his  journey ;  and 
this  was  a  very  charming,  if  somewhat  lonely,  stretch  of  country 
in  which  he  now  found  himself.  The  wide  river,  the  steep  hill- 
side beyond  hanging  in  foliage,  the  valley  narrowing  in  among 
rocks  and  then  leading  away  up  to  those  far  solitudes  of  moor- 
land and  heather,  broken  only  here  and  there  by  a  single  pine — 
all  these  features  of  the  landscape  seemed  so  clear  and  fine  in 
color;  there  was  no  intervening  haze;  everything  was  vivid  and 
singularly  distinct,  and  yet  aerial  and  harmonious  and  retiring 
of  hue.  But  of  course  it  was  the  stream — with  its  glancing 
lights,  its  living  change  and  motion,  its  murmuring,  varying 
voice — that  was  the  chief  attraction  ;  and  he  wandered  on  by 


110  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

the  side  of  it,  noting  here  and  there  the  long,  rippling  shallows 
where  the  sun  struck  golden  on  the  sand  beneath,  watching 
the  oily  swirls  of  the  deep  black-brown  pools  as  if  at  any  mo- 
ment he  expected  to  see  a  salmon  leap  into  the  air,  and  not 
even  uninterested  in  the  calm  eddies  on  the  other  side,  where 
the  smooth  water  mirrored  the  yellow-green  bank  and  the 
bushes  and  the  overhanging  birch-trees.  He  sat  down  for  a 
while,  listening  absently  to  this  continuous,  soothing  murmur, 
perhaps  thinking  of  the  roar  of  the  great  city  he  had  left.  He 
was  quite  content  to  be  alone ;  he  did  not  even  want  Maurice 
Mangan  to  be  discoursing  to  him — in  those  seasons  of  calm 
in  which  questions,  long  unanswered,  perhaps  never  to  be  an- 
swered, will  arise. 

Then  he  rose  and  went  on  again,  for,  from  the  high-road  along 
which  he  had  driven,  he  had  caught  a  glimpse  of  a  wilder  part 
of  the  glen,  where  the  river  seemed  to  come  tumbling  down  a 
rocky  chasm,  with  some  huge  boulders  in  mid-channel ;  and 
even  now  he  could  hear  the  distant,  muffled  roar  of  the  waters. 
But  all  of  a  sudden  he  stopped.  Away  along  there,  and  keep- 
ing guard  (like  a  stork,  as  Miss  Georgie  Lestrange  had  suggested) 
above  the  pool  that  lay  on  this  side  of  the  double  waterfall,  was 
a  young  lady,  her  back  turned  towards  him.  So  far  as  he  could 
make  out,  she  wasn't  doing  anything ;  a  long  fishing-rod,  with 
the  butt  on  the  ground,  she  held  idly  in  her  right  hand ;  while 
with  her  left  hand  she  occasionally  shaded  her  face  across  tow- 
ards the  west — probably,  as  he  imagined,  she  was  waiting  for 
some  of  those  smooth-sailing  clouds  to  come  and  obscure  the 
too-fierce  light  of  the  sun.  He  knew  who  she  was ;  this  must 
be  Honnor  Cunyngham,  Lady  Adela's  sister-in-law ;  and  of 
course  he  did  not  wish  to  intrude  on  the  young  lady's  privacy ; 
he  would  try  to  pass  by  behind  her  unobserved,  though  here 
the  strath  narrowed  until  it  was  almost  a  defile. 

He  was  soon  relieved  from  all  anxiety.  Sharper  eyes  than 
his  own  had  perceived  him.  The  young  lady  wheeled  round  ; 
glanced  at  him  for  a  second ;  turned  again ;  and  then  a  thin, 
tall,  old  man,  who  had  hitherto  been  invisible  to  him,  rose  from 
his  concealment  among  the  rocks  close  to  her  and  came  along 
the  river  bank.  He  was  a  very  handsome  old  man,  this  super- 
annuated keeper,  with  his  keen,  aquiline  nose,  his  clear,  gray 
eyes,  and  frosted  hair, 


PRINCE    FORTUNATCS.  HI 

"  Miss  Ilonnor  says  will  you  hcf  a  cast,  sir  ?  There's  some 
clouds  will  be  over  soon." 

"  Oh,  no,  thank  you,  I  could  not  dream  of  interrupting  her," 
Lionel  said ;  and  then  it  occurred  to  him  that  he  ought  to  go 
and  thank  the  young  lady  herself  for  this  frank  invitation.  "  I 
— I'll  go  along  and  tell  her  so." 

As  he  walked  towards  her  he  kept  his  eye,  somewhat  furtive- 
ly, on  her,  though  now  she  had  turned  her  back  again ;  and  all 
he  could  make  out  was  that  she  had  a  very  elegant  figure  ;  that 
she  was  tall — though  not  so  tall  as  her  three  sisters-in-law ;  and 
that  her  abundant  brown  hair  was  short  and  curly  and  kept  close 
to  her  head,  almost  like  a  boy's.  Were  not  her  shoulders  a  trifle 
square-set  for  a  woman? — but  perhaps  that  appearance  was 
owing  to  her  costume,  for  she  wore  a  Norfolk  jacket  of  gray 
homespun  that  looked  as  if  it  could  afford  a  good  defence 
against  the  weather.  She  was  entirely  in  gray,  in  fact ;  for  her 
short-skirted  dress  was  of  the  same  material ;  and  so  also  was 
the  Tam  o'  Shanter,  adorned  with  salmon  flies,  that  she  wore  on 
her  shapely  head  of  golden-brown  curls.  Oh,  yes,  she  looked 
sufficiently  picturesque,  standing  there  against  the  glow  of  the 
western  skies,  with  the  long  salmon-rod  in  her  right  hand ;  but 
he  was  hardly  prepared  for  what  followed.  The  moment  that  she 
heard  him  draw  near,  she  wheeled  round  and  regarded  him  for  a 
second — regarded  him  with  a  glance  that  rather  bewildered  him 
by  reason  of  its  transparent  honesty  and  directness.  The  clear 
hazel  eyes  seemed  to  read  him  through  and  through,  and  yet  not 
to  be  aware  of  their  own  boldness  ;  and  he  did  not  know  w'hy  he 
was  so  glad  to  hear  that  she  had  a  soft  and  girlish  voice,  as  she  said, 

"  You  are  Mr.  Moore.  I  am  Lady  Adela's  sister — of  course 
you  know.  Won't  you  take  my  rod  ?  There  will  be  some 
shadow  very  soon,  I  think." 

"  Oh,  certainly  not — certainly  not,"  said  he.  "  But  I  should 
be  delighted  if  you  would  let  me  stay  and  look  on ;  it  would 
interest  me  quite  as  much — every  bit  as  much." 

"  Oh,  stay  by  all  means,"  said  she,  turning  to  look  at  the 
western  sky.  "  But  I  wish  you  would  take  my  rod.  What  are 
they  all  about  to  let  you  come  wandering  out  alone,  on  the  first 
day  of  your  arrival  ?" 

"  Oh,  that's  quite  right,"  said  he,  cheerfully.  "  Lady  Adela 
and  the  young  ladies  are  all  busy  dressmaking." 


112  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"Ye  may  be  getting  ready,  Miss  Ilonnor,"  old  Robert  inter- 
posed,    "  There'll  be  a  cloud  over  the  sun  directly." 

Thus  admonished,  the  tall  young  fisher-maiden  stepped  down 
by  the  side  of  a  rock  overhanging  this  wide,  black-swirling  pool, 
and  proceeded  to  get  her  tackle  in  order. 

"  You  know  I'll  give  you  my  rod  whenever  you  like  to  take  a 
turn,"  said  she,  addressing  Lionel  even  as  she  was  getting  the 
fly  on  to  the  water.  "  But  we  can't  afford  to  waste  a  moment 
of  shadow.  I  have  done  nothing  all  day  on  account  of  the  sun- 
light." 

And  now  the  welcome  shade  was  over,  and,  after  a  preliminary 
cast  or  two  to  get  the  line  out,  she  was  sending  her  fly  well 
across,  and  letting  it  drift  quietly  down  the  stream,  to  be  re- 
covered by  a  series  of  small  and  gentle  jerks.  Lionel  was  sup- 
posed to  be  looking  on  at  the  fishing ;  but,  when  he  dared,  he 
was  stealing  covert  glances  at  her ;  for  this  was  one  of  the  most 
striking  faces  he  had  seen  for  many  a  day.  There  was  a  curi- 
ously pronounced  personality  about  her  features,  refined  as  they 
were ;  her  lips  were  proud — and  perhaps  a  little  firmer  than 
usual  just  now,  when  she  was  wielding  a  seventeen-foot  rod ; 
her  clear  hazel  eyes  were  absolutely  fearless ;  and  her  broadly 
marked  and  somewhat  square  eyebrows  appeared  to  lend  strength 
rather  than  gentleness  to  the  intellectual  forehead.  Then  the 
stateliness  of  her  neck  and  the  set  of  her  head ;  she  seemed  to 
recall  to  him  some  proud  warrior-maiden  out  of  Scandinavian 
mythology — though  she  was  dressed  in  simple  homespun  and 
had  for  her  only  henchman  this  quiet  old  Robert,  who,  crouch- 
ing down  under  a  birch-tree,  was  watching  every  cast  made  by 
his  mistress  with  the  intensest  interest.  And  at  last  Lionel  was 
startled  to  hear  the  old  man  call  out,  but  in  an  undertone — 
"  IIo !" 

Ilonnor  Cunyngham  began  coolly  to  pull  in  her  line  through 
the  rings. 

"  What  is  it  ?"  Lionel  asked,  in  wonder. 

"  I  rose  a  fish  then,  but  he  came  short,"  she  said,  quietly. 
"  We'll  give  him  a  rest.    A  pretty  good  one,  wasn't  he,  Robert  ?" 

"  Ay,  he  wass  that,  Miss  Ilonnor,  a  good  fish.  And  ye  did 
not  touch  him  ?" 

"  Not  at  all ;  he'll  come  again  sure  enough." 

And  then  she  turned  to  Lionel ;  and  he  was  pleased  to  ob- 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  113 

serve,  as  she  went  on  to  speak  to  him  about  her  sisters-in-law 
and  their  various  pursuits,  that,  proud  as  those  Hps  were,  a  sort 
of  grave  good-humor  seemed  to  be  their  habitual  expression, 
and  also  that  those  transparently  honest,  hazel  eyes  had  a  very 
attractive  sunniness  in  them  when  she  was  amused. 

"  The  dressmaking,"  she  said.  "  Of  course  you  know  what 
that  is  about.  They  arc  preparing  another  of  those  out-of-door 
performances.  Oh,  yes,  they  are  very  much  in  earnest,"  she 
went  on,  with  a  smile  that  lightened  and  sweetened  the  pro- 
nounced character  of  her  face. 

"And  you  are  to  be  entertained  this  time.  They  are  not  go- 
ing to  ask  you  to  do  anything.  Last  time,  at  Campdcn  Hill, 
you  took  a  principal  part,  didn't  you? — but  this  time  you  are 
merely  to  be  a  guest — a  spectator," 

"  And  which  are  you  to  be.  Miss  Cunyngham  ?"  he  made  bold 
to  ask. 

"  I  ?  Oh,  they  never  ask  me  to  join  in  those  things,"  she 
said,  pleasantly  enough.  "  The  sacred  fire  has  not  descended 
on  me.  They  say  that  I  regard  their  performances  as  mere 
childish  amusement ;  but  I  don't  really ;  it  isn't  for  a  Philistine 
like  myself  to  express  disdain  about  anything.  But  then,  you 
see,  if  I  were  to  try  to  join  in  with  my  clever  sisters,  and  per- 
haps when  they  were  most  in  earnest,  I  might  laugh ;  and  en- 
thusiasts couldn't  be  expected  to  like  that,  could  they  ?" 

She  spoke  very  honestly  and  fairly,  he  thought,  and  without 
showing  anything  like  scorn  of  what  she  did  not  sympathize 
with ;  and  yet  somehow  he  felt  glad  that  he  was  not  expected 
to  take  a  part  in  this  new  masque. 

"  From  what  I  remember  of  it,"  said  he,  "  I  suppose  it  will  be 
mostly  a  pageant — there  is  plenty  of  patriotic  sentiment  in  it, 
but  hardly  any  action,  as  far  as  I  recollect.  Of  course,  I  know 
it  chiefly  because  the  poet  Thomson  wrote  it,  or  partly  wrote 
it,  and  because  he  put  '  Rule  Britannia '  into  it.  Isn't  it  odd," 
he  added,  with  a  touch  of  adroit  flattery  (as  he  considered), 
"  that  the  two  chief  national  songs  of  England,  '  Ye  Mariners  of 
England  '  and  '  Rule  Britannia '  should  both  have  been  written 
by  Scotchmen  ?" 

She  paid  no  heed  to  this  compliment ;  indeed  he  might  have 
known  that  the  old  Scotch  families  (many  of  them  of  Norman 
origin,  by  the  way)  have  so  intermarried  with  English  families 


114  PKINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

that  they  have  very  little  distinct  nationality,  though  they  may 
be  proud  enough  of  their  name.  This  young  lady  was  no  more 
Scotch  than  himself. 

"  I  will  try  him  again  now,"  said  she,  with  a  glance  at  the 
water,  and  forthwith  she  set  to  work  with  rod  and  line,  begin- 
ning a  few  yards  farther  up  the  stream,  and  gradually  working 
down  to  Avhere  she  had  risen  the  fish.  As  she  came  near  the 
spot,  Lionel  could  see  that  she  was  covering  every  inch  of 
water  with  the  greatest  care,  and  also  that  at  the  end  of  each 
cast  she  let  the  fly  hang  for  a  time  in  the  current.  He  became 
quite  anxious  himself.  Was  she  not  quite  close  to  the  fish  now  ? 
Or  had  he  caught  too  clear  a  glimpse  of  the  fly  on  the  previous 
occasion,  and  gone  away  ?  Yes,  she  must  be  almost  over  him 
now  ;  and  yet  there  was  no  sign.  Or  past  him  ?  Or  he  might 
have  turned  and  gone  a  yard  or  two  farther  down  ?  Then, 
as  this  eagerly  interested  spectator  was  intently  watching  the 
swirls  of  the  deep  pool,  there  was  a  sudden  wave  on  the  surface, 
she  struck  up  her  rod  slightly,  and  the  next  moment  away  went 
her  line  tearing  through  the  water,  while  the  reel  screamed  out 
its  joyous  note  of  recognition.  Old  Robert  jumped  to  his  feet. 
At  the  same  instant  the  fish  made  another  appalling  rush,  far 
away  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  and  at  the  end  of  it 
flashed  into  the  air — a  swift  gleam  of  purple-blue  and  silver 
that  revealed  his  splendid  size.  Lionel  was  quite  breathless 
with  excitement.  He  dared  not  speak  to  her,  for  fear  of  dis- 
tracting her  attention.  But  she  was  apparently  quite  calm ;  and 
old  Robert  looked  on  without  any  great  solicitude,  as  if  he  knew 
that  his  young  mistress  needed  neither  advice  nor  assistance. 
Meanwhile  the  salmon  had  come  back  into  the  middle  of  the 
stream,  where  it  lay  deep,  only  giving  evidence  of  its  existence 
by  a  series  of  vicious  tugs. 

"I  don't  like  that  tugging,  Robert,"  she  said.  "He  knows 
too  much.     He  has  pulled  himself  free  from  a  fly  before." 

"  Ay,  ay,  I'm  afraid  of  that  too,"  old  Robert  said,  with  his 
keen  eyes  fixed  on  every  movcmetit  of  the  straining  line. 

Then  the  fish  lay  still  and  sulked  ;  and  she  took  the  oppor- 
tunity of  moving  a  little  bit  up-stream  and  reeling  in  a  yard  or 
two. 

"  Would  you  like  to  take  the  rod  now,  Mr.  Moore  ?"  slie  said, 
generously. 


PRINCK    FORTUNATUS.  115 

*'  Oh,  certainly  not,"  he  exclaimed.  "  I  would  not  for  worlds 
you  should  lose  the  salmon — and  do  you  think  I  could  take  the 
responsibility  V 

He  ceased  speaking,  for  he  saw  that  her  attention  had  once 
more  been  drawn  to  the  salmon,  which  was  now  calmly  and 
steadily  making  up-stream.  Ho  watclied  the  slow  progress  of 
the  line ;  and  then,  to  his  horror,  he  perceived  that  the  iish  was 
lieading  for  the  other  side  of  a  large  gray  rock  that  stood  in 
mid-channel.  If  he  should  persist  in  boring  his  way  up  that 
farther  current,  would  not  he  inevitably  cut  the  line  on  the  rock  ? 
AVhat  could  she  do  ?  Still  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  big  boulder 
went  that  white  line,  steadily  cutting  through  the  brown  water ; 
and  still  she  said  not  a  word,  though  Lionel  fancied  she  was  now 
putting  on  a  heavier  strain.  At  last  the  line  was  almost  touching 
the  stone ;  and  there  the  salmon  lay  motionless.  He  was  within 
half  a  5'ard  of  certain  freedom,  if  only  he  had  known ;  for  the 
water  was  far  too  deep  to  allow  of  old  Robert  wading  in  and  get- 
ting the  line  over  the  rock.  But  just  as  Lionel,  far  more  excited 
than  the  fisher-maiden  herself,  was  wondering  what  was  going 
to  happen  next,  the  whole  situation  of  affairs  was  reversed  in  a 
twinkling ;  the  salmon  suddenly  turned  and  dashed  away  down- 
stream until  it  was  right  at  the  end  of  the  pool,  and  there,  in 
deep  water  on  the  other  side,  it  resumed  its  determined  tugging, 
so  that  the  pliant  top  of  the  rod  was  shaken  as  if  by  a  human 
hand. 

"  That  is  what  frightens  me,"  she  said  to  Lionel.  "  I  don't 
like  that  at  all." 

But  what  could  he  do  to  help  her  ?  Eager  wishes  were  of  no 
avail ;  and  yet  he  felt  as  if  the  crowning  joy  of  his  life  would 
be  to  see  that  splendid  big  fish  safely  out  there  on  the  bank. 
All  his  faculties  seemed  to  be  absorbed  in  the  contemplation  of 
that  momentous  struggle.  The  past  and  the  future  were  alike 
cut  off  from  him — he  had  forgotten  all  about  the  theatre  and 
its  trumpery  applause — ^he  had  no  thought  but  for  the  unseen 
creature  underneath  the  water,  that  was  dashing  its  head  from 
side  to  side,  and  then  boring  down,  and  then  sailing  away  over  to 
the  opposite  shallows,  exhausting  every  manoeuvre  to  regain  its 
liberty.  He  could  not  speak  to  her ;  what  was  anything  he 
could  say  as  compared  with  the  tremendous  importance  of  the 
next  movement  on  the  part  of  the  fish  ?    But  she  was  calm  enough. 


116  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  He  doesn't  tire  himself  mucli,  Robert,"  she  said.  "  He 
keeps  all  his  strength  for  that  tugging." 

But  just  as  she  spoke  the  salmon  began  to  come  into  mid- 
stream again,  and  she  stepped  a  yard  or  two  back,  reeling  in  the 
line  swiftly.  Once  or  twice  she  looked  at  the  top  of  the  rod : 
there  was  a  faint  strain  on,  nothing  more.  Then  her  enemy 
seemed  inclined  to  yield  a  little ;  she  reeled  in  still  more  quick- 
ly ;  knot  after  knot  of  the  casting-line  gradually  rose  from  the 
surface  ;  at  last  they  caught  sight  of  a  dull,  bronze  gleam — the 
sunlight  striking  through  the  brown  water  on  the  side  of  the 
fish.  But  he  had  no  intention  of  giving  in  yet;  he  had  only 
come  up  to  look  about  him.  Presently  he  headed  up-stream 
again — quietly  and  steadily ;  then  there  was  another  savage 
shaking  of  his  head  and  tugging ;  then  a  sharp  run  and  plunge ; 
aud  again  he  lay  deep,  jerking  to  get  this  unholy  thing  out  of 
his  jaw.  Lionel  began  to  wonder  that  any  one  should  volun- 
tarily and  for  the  sake  of  amusement  undergo  this  frightful 
anxiety.  He  knew  that  if  he  had  possession  of  the  rod,  his 
hands  would  be  trembling ;  his  breath  would  be  coming  short 
and  quick ;  that  a  lifetime  of  hope  and  fear  would  be  crowded 
into  every  minute.  And  yet  here  was  this  girl  watching  coolly 
and  critically  the  motion  of  the  line,  and  showing  not  the  slight- 
est trace  of  excitement  on  her  finely  cut,  impressive  features. 
But  he  noticed  that  her  lips  were  firm  ;  perhaps  she  was  nerving 
herself  not  to  betray  any  concern. 

"  I  think  I  am  getting  the  better  of  him,  Robert,"  said  she, 
presently,  as  the  fish  began  to  steer  a  little  in  her  direction. 

"  I  would  step  back  a  bit,  Miss  Honnor,"  the  keen-visagcd 
old  gillie  said ;  but  he  did  not  step  back ;  on  the  contrary,  he 
crouched  down  by  the  side  of  a  big  boulder,  close  to  the  water, 
and  again  he  tried  liis  gaff,  to  make  sure  that  the  steel  clip  was 
firmly  fixed  in  the  handle. 

Yes,  there  was  no  doubt  that  the  salmon  was  beaten.  He 
kept  coming  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  land,  led  by  the  gentle, 
continuous  strain  of  the  pliant  top,  though  ever  and  anon  he 
would  vainly  try  to  head  away  again  into  deep  water.  It  was  a 
beautiful  thing  to  look  at :  this  huge,  gleaming  creature  taken 
captive  by  an  almost  invisible  line,  and  gradually  yielding  to 
inevitable  fate.  Joy  was  in  Lionel's  heart.  If  he  had  wondered 
that  any  one,  for  the  sake  of  amusement,  should  choose  to  un- 


I 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  117 

dergo  such  agonies  of  anxiety,  he  wondered  no  more.  Uere 
was  the  fierce  delight  of  triumph.  The  struggle  of  force  against 
skill  was  about  over ;  there  was  no  more  tugging  now ;  there 
were  no  more  frantic  rushes  or  bewildering  leaps  in  the  air. 
Slowly,  slowly  the  great  fish  was  being  led  in  to  shore.  Twice 
had  old  Robert  warily  stretched  out  his  gaflf,  only  to  find  that 
the  prize  was  not  yet  within  his  reach.  And  then,  just  as  the 
young  lady  with  the  firm-set  lips  said, '  Now,  Robert !'  and  just 
as  the  gaff  was  cautiously  extended  for  the  third  time,  the  salmon 
gave  a  final  lurch  forward,  and  the  next  instant — before  Lionel 
could' tell  what  had  happened — the  fly  was  dangling  helplessly 
in  the  air,  and  the  fish  was  gone. 

^^  Au  Yeear  said  Robert,  in  an  undertone,  to  himself  ;  while 
Lionel,  as  soon  as  he  perceived  the  extent  of  the  catastrophe, 
felt  as  though  some  black  horror  had  fallen  over  the  world. 
He  could  not  say  a  word ;  he  seemed  yearning  to  have  the  fish 
for  one  second  again  where  he  had  lately  seen  it — and  then 
wouldn't  he  have  gladly  jumped  into  the  stream,  gaff  in  hand, 
to  secure  the  splendid  trophy  !  But  now — now  there  was  noth- 
ing but  emptiness  and  a  lifeless  waste  of  hurrying  water. 

And  as  regards  the  young  lady  ?  Well,  she  smiled — in  a  dis- 
concerted way,  to  be  sure  ;  and  then  she  said,  with  apparent  res- 
ignation, 

"  I  almost  expected  it.  I  never  do  hope  to  get  a  tiigging 
salmon  ;  all  the  way  through  I  was  saying  to  myself  we  shouldn't 
land  him.  However,  there's  no  use  fretting  over  lost  fish.  We 
did  our  best,  Robert,  didn't  we  ?" 

"  Indeed  you  could  not  hef  done  better.  Miss  Honnor,"  said 
the  old  gillie.     "  There  wass  no  mistake  that  you  made  at  ahl." 

"  Very  well,"  said  she,  cheerfully ;  and  she  looked  in  a  kind- 
ly way  towards  the  old  man.  "  I  did  everything  right ;  and  as 
for  you,  no  one  will  tell  me  that  the  best  gillie  in  Ross-shire  did 
anything  wrong ;  so  we  have  nothing  to  reproach  ourselves 
with,  Robert,  have  we  ?" 

"  But  it  is  such  a  dreadful  misfortune  !"  exclaimed  Lionel, 
who  could  hardly  understand  this  equanimity.  "  Another 
couple  of  seconds,  and  you  must  have  had  him." 

"  Well,  now,  Robert,"  said  she,  briskly,  "  shall  we  go  up  and 
try  the  tail  of  the  Long  Pool  ?     Or  go  down  to  the  Stones  ?" 

"  We'll  chist  go  up  to  the  tail  of  the  Long  Pool,  Miss  Honnor," 


118  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

said  he ;  and  he  took  the  rod  from  her,  picked  up  her  water- 
proof, and  set  out ;  while  Lionel,  without  waiting  for  any  fur- 
ther invitation,  accompanied  her. 

And  as  they  walked  along,  picking  their  way  among  boulders 
and  bracken  and  heather,  he  was  asking  her  whether  the  heart- 
breaking accidents  and  bitter  disappointments  of  salmon-fishing 
were  not  greater  than  its  rewards  ;  as  to  which  she  lightly  made 
answer : 

"  You  must  come  and  try.  None  of  the  gentlemen  here  are 
very  eager  anglers;  I  suppose  they  get  enough  of  salmon-fishing 
in  the  spring.  Now  if  you  care  about  it  at  all,  one  rod  is  al- 
ways enough  for  two  people,  and  we  could  arrange  it  this  way 
— that  you  should  take  the  pools  where  wading  is  necessary. 
They'll  get  a  pair  of  waders  for  you  at  the  lodge.  At  present 
old  Robert  does  all  the  wading  that  is  wanted ;  but  of  course  I 
don't  care  much  about  playing  a  fish  that  has  been  hooked  by 
somebody  else.     Now,  you  would  take  the  wading  pools." 

"  Oh,  thank  you,"  said  he,  "  but  I'm  afraid  I  should  show  my- 
self such  a  duffer.  I  used  to  be  a  pretty  fair  trout-fisher  when 
I  was  a  lad,"  he  went  on  to  say ;  and  then  it  suddenly  occurred 
to  him  that  the  offer  of  her  companionship  ought  not  to  be  re- 
ceived in  this  hesitating  fashion.  "  But  I  shall  be  delighted  to 
try  my  hand,  if  you  will  let  me  ;  and  of  course  you  must  see 
that  I  don't  disturb  the  best  pools." 

So  they  passed  up  through  the  narrow  gorge,  where  the  heavy 
volume  of  water  was  dashing  down  in  tawny  masses  between 
the  rocks,  and  got  into  the  open  country  again,  where  the  strath 
broadened  out  in  a  wide  expanse  of  moorland.  Here  the  river 
ran  smooth  between  low  banks,  bordered  now  and  again  by  a 
fringe  of  birch,  and  there  was  a  greater  quiet  prevailing,  the 
farther  and  farther  they  got  away  from  the  tumbling  torrents 
below.  But  when  they  reached  the  Long  Pool  no  fishing  was 
possible  ;  the  afternoon  sun  struck  full  on  the  calm  surface  of 
the  water ;  there  was  not  a  breath  of  wind  to  stir  the  smooth- 
mirrored  blue  and  white  ;  they  could  do  nothing  but  choose 
out  a  heathery  knoll  on  the  bank,  and  sit  down  and  wait  patient- 
ly for  a  passing  cloud. 

"  I  suppose,"  said  she,  clasping  her  fingers  together  in  her  lap 
— "  T  suppose  you  are  all  eagerness  about  to-morrow  morning?" 

"Oil,  I  am  not  going  shooting  to-morrow,"  said  lie. 


1 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  119 

"  What !"  she  exclaimed.  "  To  be  on  a  grouse-moor  on  the 
Twelfth,  and  not  go  out  ?" 

"  It  is  because  it  is  the  Twelfth  ;  I  don't  want  to  spoil  sport," 
said  he,  modestly.  "  And  I  don't  want  to  make  a  fool  of  my- 
self either.  If  I  could  shoot  well  enough,  and  if  there  were  a 
place  for  me,  I  should  be  glad  to  go  out  with  them ;  but  my 
shooting  is,  like  my  fishing,  a  relic  of  boyhood's  days ;  and  I 
should  not  like  to  make  an  exhibition  of  myself  before  a  lot  of 
crack  shots." 

"  That  is  only  false  pride,  said  she,  in  her  curiously  direct, 
straightforward  way.  "  Why  should  you  be  ashamed  to  admit 
that  there  are  certain  things  you  can't  do  as  well  as  you  can  do 
certain  other  things  ?  There  is  no  particular  virtue  in  having 
been  brought  up  to  the  use  of  a  gun  or  rod.  Take  your  own 
case.  You  are  at  home  on  the  stage.  There  you  know  every- 
thing— you  are  the  master,  the  proficient.  But  take  the  crack 
shots  and  put  them  on  the  stage,  and  ask  them  to  do  the  sim- 
plest thing — then  it  is  their  turn  to  be  helpless,  not  to  say  ridic- 
ulous." 

"  Perhaps,"  said  he,  rather  tentatively,  "  you  mean  that  we 
should  all  of  us  keep  to  our  own  walks  in  life  ?" 

"  I'm  sure  I  don't  mean  anything  of  the  kind,"  said  she,  with 
much  frankness.  "  I  only  mean  that  if  you  are  not  a  first-rate 
shot,  you  need  not  be  ashamed  of  it ;  you  should  remember 
there  are  other  things  you  can  do  well.  And  really  you  must 
go  out  to-morrow  morning.  My  brother  was  talking  about  it 
at  breakfast ;  and  I  believe  the  proposal  is  that  you  go  with  him 
and  Captain  Waveney.  If  any  little  mistake  is  made.  Captain 
Waveney  is  the  man  to  retrieve  it — at  least  so  I've  heard  them 
say." 

"  At  all  events,"  said  he,  "  if  I  go  with  them  at  all,  it  will  not 
be  under  false  pretences.  I  shall  warn  them,  to  begin  with,  that 
I  am  a  bad  shot ;  then  I  can't  be  found  out.  And  they  must 
put  me  in  a  position  where  I  can't  do  much  harm." 

"I  dare  say  you  shoot  very  well,"  she  said,  with  a  smile. 
"  Gentlemen  always  talk  like  that  on  the  evening  before  the 
Twelfth,  if  they  have  come  to  a  strange  moor." 

But  now  she  had  risen  again,  for  a  breath  of  wind  was  stir- 
ring along  the  strath,  while  some  higher  air-currents  were  slowly 
bringing  certain  fleecy  clouds  across  from  the  west.     As  soon 


130  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

as  the  welcome  shade  had  stolen  over  the  river,  she  began  to 
cast ;  and  on  this  smooth  water  he  could  see  more  clearly  what 
an  excellent  line  this  was  that  she  sent  out.  Not  a  long  line — 
perhaps  twenty-three  or  twenty-four  yards — but  thrown  most  ad- 
mirably, the  fly  lighting  on  the  surface  like  a  snowflake.  More- 
over, he  was  now  a  little  bit  behind  her,  so  that  he  could  with 
impunity  regard  the  appearance  of  this  newly-found  companion 
— her  lithe  and  agile  form,  the  proud  set  of  her  neck  and  head, 
the  beautiful  close  masses  of  her  curly,  golden-brown  hair,  and 
the  fine  contour  of  her  sun-tanned  cheek.  Then  the  vigorous 
exercise  in  which  she  was  engaged  revealed  all  the  suppleness 
and  harmonious  proportions  of  her  figure ;  for  here  was  no 
pretty  wrist-work  of  trout-fishing,  but  the  wielding  of  a  double- 
handed  salmon-rod ;  and  she  had  taught  herself  the  gillies' 
method  of  casting — that  is  to  say,  she  made  the  backward  cast 
by  throwing  both  arms  right  up  in  the  air,  so  that,  as  she  paused 
to  let  the  line  straighten  out  behind,  her  one  hand  was  on  a 
level  with  her  forehead,  and  the  other  more  than  a  foot  above 
that.  Lionel  thought  that  before  he  tried  casting  in  the  pres- 
ence of  Miss  Honnor  Cunyngham,  he  should  like  to  get  a  few 
quiet  lessons  from  old  Robert. 

However,  all  this  expenditure  of  skill  proved  to  be  of  no 
avail.  She  could  not  move  a  fin ;  nor  had  Robert  any  better 
luck,  when,  they  having  come  to  a  shallow  reach,  she  allowed 
the  old  man,  who  was  encased  in  waders,  to  get  into  the  water 
and  fish  along  the  opposite  bank.  When  he  came  ashore  again, 
his  young  mistress  said, 

"  Dame  Fortune  hasn't  forgiven  us  for  letting  that  first  one  go." 
And  old  Robert,  who  had  probably  never  heard  of  Dame  For- 
tune (or  may  have  considered  the  phrase  a  polite  and  young- 
lady-like  form  of  swearing),  merely  made  answer, 

"  Ay,  Miss  Ilonnor,  we'll  go  and  try  the  Small  Pool,  now." 
The  Small  Pool  lies  between  the  Long  Pool  and  the  Rock 
Pool ;  it  is  a  circular,  deep,  black  hole,  in  which  the  waters  col- 
lect before  dashing  and  roaring  down  between  the  great  gray 
boulders ;  and  to  fish  it  you  must  get  out  on  certain  knife-like 
ledges  that  seem  to  ofl[cr  anything  but  a  secure  foothold.  How- 
ever, Miss  Ilonnor  did  not  think  twice  about  it ;  and,  indeed,  as 
she  made  her  way  out  on  those  narrow  slips  of  rock,  Lionel  per- 
ceived  that  her  boots,  whic-h    were  laced  in   front   like   men's 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  121 

boots,  if  they  were  small  enough  as  regarded  that  portion 
covering  the  foot,  were  provided  with  most  sensibly  wide 
soles,  which  again  were  studded  with  nails.  And  there,  bal- 
ancing herself  as  best  she  might,  she  got  out  a  short  line, 
and  began  industriously  to  cover  every  inch  of  the  surging  and 
whirling  water.  A  most  likely -looking  place,  Lionel  thought  to 
himself,  as  he  sat  and  looked  on.  But  here  also  they  were 
doomed  to  disappointment.  It  is  true  she  hooked  a  small  sea- 
trout — and  was  heartily  glad  when  it  shook  itself  free,  thereby 
saving  her  time  and  trouble.  All  the  rest  of  her  labor  was  ex- 
pended for  nothing ;  so  finally  she  had  to  reel  up  and  make  her 
way  ashore,  where  she  suiTendered  her  rod  to  the  old  gillie. 

Then  they  passed  down  through  the  narrow  defile  again  and 
came  in  view  of  the  wide  path — now  all  saflfron-tinted  in  the 
evening  sunlight — with  the  lodge  and  its  straggling  dependen- 
cies in  the  midst  of  the  plain.  Perhaps  it  was  this  sight  of  the 
house  that  recalled  to  her  what  they  had  been  talking  of  some 
time  before  ;  for,  as  they  walked  along  the  river-bank,  she  was 
again  urging  him  to  go  out  on  the  following  morning ;  and  not 
only  that,  but  she  declared  he  must  have  one  or  two  days'  deer- 
stalking while  he  was  in  the  North.  If  he  missed,  then  he  missed  ; 
why  should  he  care  what  foresters  and  gillies  thought  of  him  ? 
Of  course  he  was  very  grateful  to  her  for  all  her  kind  patronage  ; 
but  he  could  not  help  thinking  it  rather  odd  to  find  a  woman 
lending  courage  to  a  man — counselling  him  to  be  independent 
and  to  have  no  fear  of  ridicule. 

"  I  recollect,"  he  said  to  her,  "  once  hearing  Lord  Rockminster 
say  that  until  a  man  has  gone  deer-stalking  he  can  have  no  idea 
what  extremes  of  misery  a  human  being  is  capable  of  endurinor." 

'*  Lord  Rockminster  is  incurably  lazy,"  she  said.  "  I  think  if 
you  found  yourself  riding  along  this  strath  some  night  about 
eight  or  nine  o'clock,  knowing  that  away  up  among  the  hills  you 
had  left  a  stag  of  ten  or  twelve  points  to  be  sent  for  and  brought 
down  the  next  morning — then  I  think  you  wouldn't  be  reflect- 
ing on  the  discomforts  you  had  gone  through,  or,  if  you  did,  it 
would  be  with  pride.  Why,"  said  she,  "  you  surely  didn't  come 
to  the  Highlands  to  play  at  private  theatricals  ?" 

"  I  get  enough  of  the  theatre  in  the  South,"  he  said, "  as  yon 
may  well  imagine." 

But  here  was  a  bend  of  the  river  sheltered  from  the  welterino- 
G  * 


133  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

sun  by  a  steep  and  wooded  bill ;  and  Miss  Cunyngbam,  at  old 
Robert's  suggestion,  began  work  again.  It  was  really  most  in- 
teresting to  watcb  tbis  graceful  casting  ;  Lionel,  sitting  down  on 
the  heather  and  smoking  a  cigarette,  seemed  to  want  no  other 
occupation  ;  be  forgot  what  the  object  of  throwing  a  fly  was, 
the  tbrowing  of  the  fly  seemed  to  be  enough  in  itself.  lie  bad 
grown  to  think  that  all  these  oily  sweeps  of  brown  water,  touched 
here  and  there  by  dark,  olive-green  reflections,  were  useful  only 
as  showing  where  the  fly  dropped ;  there  was  no  fish  watching 
the  slow  jerking  of  the  "  Bishop  "  across  the  current ;  the  one 
salmon  that  haunted  the  Rock  Pool  had  put  in  an  appearance 
and  gone  away  long  ago.  But  suddenly  there  was  a  short, 
sharp  scream  of  the  reel ;  then  silence. 

"  What  is  it,  Robert  ?"  she  said — apparently  holding  on  to 
something.     "  Another  sea-trout  ?" 

"  Oh,  no,  Miss  Hon  nor,  I  am  not  thinking  that — " 

Tbe  words  were  hardly  out  of  his  mouth  when  it  became 
abundantly  clear  that  the  unknown  creature  in  tbe  deeps  had 
not  the  least  intention  of  concealing  his  identity.  A  sudden 
rush  down-stream,  followed  by  a  wild  splashing  and  thrashing 
on  the  surface,  was  only  the  first  of  a  series  of  performances  that 
left  Miss  Honnor  not  one  single  moment  of  breathing-space. 
Either  she  was  following  him  rapidly  down  the  river,  or  follow- 
ing him  up  again,  or  reeling  in  swiftly  as  he  came  sailing  tow- 
ards her,  or  again  she  could  only  stand  in  breathless  suspense 
as  he  flung  himself  into  the  air  and  then  beat  and  churned  the 
water,  shaking  tbe  line  this  way  and  that. 

"  Oh,  you  wicked  little  wretch  !"  she  cried,  at  a  particularly 
vicious  flourish  out  of  the  water ;  but  this  was  the  kind  of  fish 
she  liked;  this  was  a  fish  tliat  fought  fair — a  gentlemanly  fisli, 
without  the  thought  of  a  sulk  in  bim — a  very  Prince  Rupert 
even  among  grilse ;  tbis  was  no  malevolent,  undei'liand,  deep- 
boring  tugger.  Indeed,  these  brilliant  dashes  and  runs  and 
summersaults  soon  began  to  tell.  The  gallant  little  grilse  was 
])lainly  getting  the  worst  of  it.  He  allowed  himself  to  be  led  ; 
but,  whenever  she  stepped  back  on  the  baiik  and  tried  to  induce 
liim  to  corae  in,  at  the  first  appearance  of  sliallow  water  he  would 
instantly  sheer  oflE  again  with  all  the  strength  that  was  left  in 
him.  Fortunately  he  seemed  inclined  to  head  up-stream  ;  and 
she  liuniored  bim  in  tbat,  for  there  the  water  was  deeper  under 


PRINCE    FORXrNATUS.  123 

the  bank.  Even  then  he  fought  splendidly  to  the  last.  As 
soon  as  he  got  to  recognize  that  an  enemy  was  waiting  for  him 
— an  enemy  armed  with  some  white,  shining^iiffng  that  he  more 
than  once  warily  slipped  out  of — he  would  make  struggle  after 
struggle  to  keep  away — until  at  last  there  was  a  sudden,  swift, 
decisive  stroke  of  the  steel  clip,  and  Robert  had  his  glittering 
prize  safely  ashore. 

'*  What  o'clock  is  it,  Mr.  Moore  ?"  said  Miss  Honnor — but  she 
seemed  pleased  with  the  result  of  this  brisk  encounter. 

He  looked  at  his  watch. 

"  Half-past  seven,"  he  said. 

"  Yes ;  I  thought  I  heard  the  first  bell ;  we  must  make  haste 
home.  Not  but  that  my  sisters  are  very  good  to  me,"  she  con- 
tinued, as  she  took  the  fly  that  Robert  handed  her  and  stuck  it 
in  her  Tarn  o'  Shanter ;  "  if  I  happen  to  have  got  hold  of  a  fish, 
I  am  allowed  to  come  in  to  dinner  anyhow.  And  then,  you  know, 
there  is  no  great  ceremony  at  this  bungalow  of  a  place  ;  it's  dif- 
ferent at  the  Braes,  if  Lady  Adela  happens  to  have  a  large  house- 
party — then  I  have  to  behave  like  other  folk.  What  do  you 
say,  Robert — seven  pounds?  Well,  he  made  a  good  fight  of  it. 
And  I'm  glad  not  to  be  going  home  empty-handed." 

So  Lionel  picked  up  her  waterproof  and  put  it  over  his  arm ; 
she  shouldered  her  fishing-rod,  after  having  reeled  in  the  line ; 
the  handsome  old  gillie  brought  up  the  rear  with  the  gaff  and 
the  slung  grilse ;  and  thus  equipped  the  three  of  them  set  out 
for  the  lodge — across  the  wide  valley  that  was  now  all  russet 
and  golden  under  the  warm  light  still  lingering  in  the  evening 
skies. 


CHAPTER  YHL 

THE    TWELFTH. 

When  Lionel  went  down  early  next  morning,  he  found  Lady 
Adcla's  father  in  sole  possession  ;  and  was  not  long  in  discover- 
ing that  the  old  earl  was  in  a  towering  rage. 

"  Good-morning !"  said  this  tall,  pale,  stooping-shouldered  old 
gentleman,  whose  quite  hairless  face  was  surmounted  by  a  brown 
wig.  "  Well,  what  do  you  think  of  last  night's  performance  ? 
What  do  you  think  of  it  ?    Did  you  ever  know  of  any  such  gross 


124  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

outrage  on  common  decency  ?     Why,  God  bless  ray  soul  and 
body,  I  never  heard  of  such  a  thing !" 

Lionel  knew  quite  well  what  he  meant.  The  fact  was  that 
a  Free  Church  minister  whom  Sir  Hugh  Cunyngham  had  met 
somewhere  had  called  at  Aivron  Lodge ;  as  the  custom  of  that 
part  of  the  country  is,  he  was  invited  to  stay  to  dinner ;  he  sat 
late,  told  many  stories,  and  drank  a  good  deal  of  whiskey,  until 
it  was  not  judged  prudent  to  let  him  try  to  get  his  pony  across 
the  ford,  even  if  hospitality  had  not  demanded  that  he  should 
be  offered  a  room  for  the  night ;  and  then,  when  every  one  was 
thinking  of  getting  away  to  bed,  the  worthy  man  must  needs 
insist  on  having  family  worship,  to  which  the  servants  had  also 
to  be  summoned.  It  was  the  inordinate  length  of  this  service 
at  such  a  time  of  night  that  had  driven  old  Lord  Fareborough 
to  the  verge  of  madness. 

"  Look  at  me  !"  he  said  to  Lionel,  in  tones  of  deep  and  bitter 
indignation,  "  Look  at  me — a  skeleton — a  wreck  of  a  human 
being,  who  can  only  get  along  by  the  most  careful  nursing  of  his 
nervous  system.  My  heart  is  affected ;  I  have  serious  doubts 
about  the  state  of  my  lungs ;  it  is  only  through  the  most  as- 
siduous nursing  of  my  nerves  that  I  exist  at  all.  And  what  is 
more  maddening  than  enforced  restraint — imprisonment — no 
chance  of  leaving  the  room,  with  all  those  strange  servants  at 
the  door ;  why,  God  bless  my  soul,  I  call  it  an  outrage  !  I  yield 
to  no  one  in  respect  for  the  cloth,  whether  it  is  worn  by  a  Pres- 
byterian, or  a  Catholic,  or  one  of  my  own  church ;  but  I  say 
that  no  one  has  a  right  to  thrust  religious  services  down  my 
throat !  What  the  devil  did  Cunyngham  mean  by  asking  him 
to  stay  to  dinner  at  all  ?" 

"  As  I  understand  it,"  said  Lionel,  with  a  becoming  diffidence, 
"  it  was  some  suggestion  of  Captain  Waveney's,  He  said  the 
Free  Church  ministers  were  particular  friends  of  the  crofters — 
and  of  course  the  good-will  of  the  crofters  is  of  importance  to 
a  shooting-tenant — " 

"  The  good-will  of  the  crofters !"  the  bewiggcd  old  nobleman 
broke  in,  impatiently.  "  Are  you  aware,  sir,  that  the  Strathaivron 
Branch  of  the  Land  League  met  last  week  and  passed  a  resolu- 
tion declaring  salmon  to  be  ground-game?  What  are  you  to 
do  with  pco})le  like  that?  How  are  you  to  reason  with  them? 
Wliat  is  the  use  of  pacifying  them  ?     Tliey  arc  in  (ho  hands  of 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  125 

violent  and  malevolent  revolutionaries — it  is  war  they  want — it 
is  1789  they  want — it  is  plunder  and  robbery  and  confiscation 
they  want — and  the  right  of  every  man  to  live  idle  at  the  cost 
of  the  state !  Why,  God  bless  my  soul !  the  idea  that  you  are 
to  try  to  pacify  these  ignorant  savages — " 

But  here  Lionel,  who  began  to  fancy  that  he  had  discovered 
another  Octavius  Quirk,  was  afforded  relief ;  for  the  minister 
himself  appeared  ;  and  at  the  very  sight  of  him  Lord  Fare- 
borough  indignantly  quitted  the  room.  The  minister,  who  was 
a  rather  irascible -looking  little  man  with  a  weather -reddened 
face  and  rusty  whiskers,  inquired  of  Lionel  whether  it  was  pos- 
sible to  procure  a  glass  of  milk ;  but  when  Lionel  rang  the  bell 
and  had  some  brought  for  him,  the  minister  observed  that  milk 
by  itself  was  a  dangerous  thing  in  the  morning ;  whereupon  the 
butler  had  to  be  sent  for,  who  produced  the  spirit-decanter  ;  and 
then,  and  finally,  the  minister,  boldly  discarding  the  milk  alto- 
gether, poured  out  for  himself  a  good  solid  dram,  and  drank  it 
off  with  much  evident  satisfaction. 

Now  the  ladies  began  to  make  their  appearance,  some  of  them 
going  along  to  the  gun-room  to  hear  what  the  head  keeper  had 
to  say,  others  of  them  trooping  out  by  the  front  door  to  guess 
at  the  weather.  Among  the  latter  was  Miss  Honnor  Cunyng- 
ham ;  and  Lionel,  who  had  followed  her,  went  up  to  her. 

"  A  beautiful  morning,  isn't  it  ?"  he  said. 

"  I'm  afraid  it's  too  beautiful,"  said  she,  in  reply.  "  Look  up 
there." 

And  she  was  right.  This  was  far  too  picturesque  and  vivid 
a  morning  to  portend  well  for  a  shooting-day.  Down  at  the 
farther  end  of  the  strath,  the  skies  were  banked  up  with  dark 
and  heavy  clouds  ;  the  lake-like  sweep  of  the  river  was  of  a 
sombre  and  livid  blue ;  and  between  the  indigo  stream  and  the 
purple  skies,  a  long  neck  of  land,  catching  the  sunlight,  burned 
the  most  brilliant  gold.  And  even  as  they  stood  and  looked,  a 
faint  gray  veil  gradually  interposed  between  them  and  the  dis- 
tant landscape ;  a  rainbow  slowly  formed,  spanning  the  broad 
valley ;  and  then  behind  the  fairy  curtain  of  the  shower  they 
could  see  the  yellow  river-banks,  and  the  birch  woods,  and  the 
farther-stretching  hills  all  vaguely  and  spectrally  shining  in  the 
sun. 

"  But  this  is  a  very  peculiar  glen,"  said  she.      "  It  often 


12G  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

threatens  like  that  when  it  means  nothing.  You  may  get  a  per- 
fectly dry,  still  day  after  all.  And,  Mr.  Moore,  may  I  ask  you 
if  what  you  said  about  your  shooting  yesterday  afternoon  was 
entirely  true  or  only  a  bit  of  modesty  ?" 

"  If  it  comes  to  that,"  he  said, "  I  never  shot  a  grouse  in  my 
life — no,  nor  ever  shot  at  one." 

"  Because,"  she  continued,  with  a  certain  hesitation  which  was 
indeed  far  removed  from  her  usual  manner,  "  because  you — you 
seem  rather  sensitive  to  criticism — to  other  people's  opinion — 
and  if  you  wouldn't  think  it  impertinent  of  me  to  offer  you 
some  hints — well,  for  what  they  are  worth — " 

"  But  I  should  be  immensely  grateful !"  he  answered  at  once. 

"  Well,"  she  said,  in  an  undertone,  so  that  no  one  should 
overhear,  "  you  know,  on  the  Twelfth,  with  such  still  weather  as 
we  have  had  for  the  last  week  or  two,  the  birds  are  never  wild ; 
you  needn't  be  in  the  least  anxious ;  you  won't  be  called  upon 
for  snap-shots  at  all ;  you  can  afford  to  take  plenty  of  time  and 
get  well  on  to  the  birds  before  you  fire.  You  see,  you  will  be 
in  the  middle ;  you  will  take  any  bird  that  gets  up  in  front  of 
you ;  my  brother  and  Captain  Waveney  will  take  the  outside 
ones  and  the  awkward  cross-shots.  And  if  a  covey  gets  up  all 
at  once,  they  won't  expect  you  to  pick  out  the  old  cock  first ; 
they'll  do  all  that ;  in  fact,  you  must  put  yourself  at  your  case, 
and  not  be  anxious,  and  everything  will  be  right." 

"  llonnor !"  called  Lady  Adela.  "  Come  away  at  once — break- 
fast is  in."  So  that  Lionel  had  no  proper  opportunity  of  thank- 
ing the  young  lady  for  her  friendly  counsel  and  the  interest  she 
took  in  his  small  affairs. 

Breakfast  was  a  merry  meal ;  for,  as  soon  as  the  things  had 
been  brought  in,  the  servants  were  allowed  to  leave ;  and  while 
Lady  Adela  poured  out  the  tea  and  coffee,  the  gentlemen  carved 
for  themselves  at  the  sideboard  or  handed  round  the  dishes  at 
tabic.  The  Rev.  Mr.  MacNachtcn,  the  little  Free  Church  minis- 
ter, was  especially  vivacious  and  humorous,  abounding  with  face- 
tious anecdotes  and  jests  and  personal  reminiscences ;  until,  ob- 
serving that  breakfast  was  over,  he  composed  his  countenance 
and  proceeded  to  return  thanks.  The  grace  (in  spite  of  Lord 
Farciborough's  nervous  qualms)  was  comparatively  a  short  one ; 
and  at  tlie  end  of  it  they  all  rose  and  were  for  going  tlieir  sev- 
eral ways. 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  127 

But  this  was  not  to  the  minister's  mind. 

"  Your  leddyship,"  said  he,  addressing  his  hostess  in  impres- 
sive tones, "  it  would  be  ill  done  of  us  to  be  assembled  on  such 
an  occasion  without  endeavoring  to  make  profitable  use  of  it. 
I  propose  to  say  a  few  words  in  season,  if  ye  will  have  the  kind- 
ness to  call  in  the  servants." 

Lady  Adela  glanced  towards  her  husband  with  some  appre- 
hension on  her  face  (for  she  knew  the  importance  attached  to 
the  morning  of  the  Twelfth) ;  but  whatever  Sir  Ilugh  may  have 
thought,  he  made  no  sign.  Accordingly  there  was  nothing  for 
it  but  that  she  should  ring  the  bell  and  summon  the  whole 
household  ;"and  in  a  few  minutes  the  door  of  the  room  was  sur- 
rounded by  a  group  of  Highland  women-servants  and  gillies,  the 
English  servants  rather  hanging  back  in  the  hall.  The  break- 
fast-party had  resumed  their  seats  ;  but  the  minister  remained 
standing ;  and  presently,  when  perfect  silence  had  been  secured, 
he  lifted  up  his  voice  in  prayer. 

Well,  it  was  a  sufficiently  earnest  prayer,  and  it  was  listened 
to  with  profound  attention  by  the  smart-looking  lasses  and  tall 
and  swarthy  gillies  clustering  about  the  door ;  but  to  the  Eng- 
lish part  of  his  audience  its  chief  features  were  its  curiously  ex- 
hortatory  and  argumentative  character  and  also  its  intej-miuable 
length.  As  the  minister  went  on  and  on,  the  frown  of  imj^a- 
tience  on  Lord  Fareborough's  face  deepened  and  deepened ;  he 
fretted  and  fumed  and  fidgeted ;  but,  of  course,  he  could  not 
bring  disgrace  on  his  son-in-law's  house  by  rising  and  leaving 
the  room.  Nor  did  it  convey  much  consolation  to  the  sports- 
men to  hear  the  heavy  tramp  of  the  head  keeper  just  outside 
the  windows ;  for  they  knew  that  Roderick  must  be  making  use 
of  the  most  frightful  language  over  this  unheard-of  delay. 

But  at  last  this  tremendous  oration — for  it  was  far  more  of 
an  oration  than  a  prayer — came  to  an  end ;  and  the  congrega- 
tion drew  a  long  breath  and  were  about  to  seize  their  newly 
found  liberty  when  the  minister  quietly  remarked  : 

"We  will  now  sing  the  Hundred  and  Twenty-First  Psalm." 

"  God  bless  my  soul  !"  exclaimed  Lord  Fareborough,  aloud  ; 
and  Lady  Adela  flushed  quickly ;  for  it  was  not  seemly  of  her 
father  to  give  way  to  such  anger  before  those  keen-eyed  and 
keen-eared  Highland  servants. 

However,  the  Rev.  Mr.  MacXachtcn  took  no  heed.     He  began 


128  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

to  sing,  in  a  slow  and  raucons  fashion,  and  to  the  melancholy 
tune  of  "Ballerma," 

" '  I  to  the  hills  will  lift  mine  eyes, 
From  whence  doth  come  mine  aid ;' " 

and  presently  there  came  from  the  door  a  curious  nasal  wail, 
men  and  women  singing  in  unison,  and  seemingly  afraid  to  trust 
their  voices.  As  for  the  people  in  the  room  no  one  tried  to 
join  in  this  part  of  the  service — no  one  except  Honnor  Cunyng- 
ham,  who  appeared  to  know  the  words  of  the  Psalm  and  the 
music  equally  well,  for  she  accompanied  the  minister  through- 
out, singing  boldly  and  simply  and  without  shyness,  her  clear 
voice  making  marked  contrast  with  his  raven  notes.  Nor  was 
this  all ;  for,  when  the  Psalm  was  finished,  the  minister  said, 

"  My  friends,  when  it  hath  pleased  the  Lord  that  we  should 
meet  together,  we  should  commune  one  with  another,  to  the 
perfecting  of  ourselves  for  that  greater  assemblage  to  which  I 
hope  we  are  all  bound."  And  then,  without  further  preface,  he 
proceeded  to  exhort  them  to  well-doing  in  all  the  duties  of  life 
— as  masters  and  mistresses,  as  servants,  as  parents,  as  children, 
as  brothers,  as  fellow-Christians ;  while  at  the  end  of  each  ram- 
bling and  emphatic  passage  there  came  in  a  verse  from  Eccle- 
siastes :  '*  Let  us  hear  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter :  Fear 
God,  and  keep  his  commandments :  for  this  is  the  whole  duty 
of  man." 

Alas  !  there  was  no  conclusion  to  this  matter.  The  little,  vio- 
lent-faced minister  warmed  to  his  work,  insomuch  that  several 
times  he  used  a  Gaelic  phrase  the  better  to  impress  those  patient 
listeners  at  the  door,  while  he  paid  less  and  less  attention  to  the 
congregation  in  the  room.  Lidecd,  the  hopeless  resignation  that 
had  at  first  settled  down  on  some  of  their  faces  had  given  place 
to  a  most  obvious  resentment ;  but  what  did  that  matter  to  Mr. 
MacNachten,  who  was  not  looking  their  way  ?  Again  and  again 
Sir  Hugh  Cunyngham  forlornly  pulled  out  his  watch,  but  the 
hint  was  not  taken.  Lord  Farcboroiigh  was  beside  himself  with 
unrest;  he  drummed  his  fingers  on  the  table-cloth;  he  crossed 
one  leg,  and  then  the  other;  while  more  than  once  he  made  a 
noise  between  his  tongue  and  his  teeth,  which  fortunately  could 
not  be  heard  far  amid  the  rolling  periods  of  the  sermon,  ('ap- 
tain  Wavcney,  who  was  master  of  the   ceremonies  in  all  that 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  129 

concerned  the  shooting — even  as  he  was  Sir  Hugh's  right-hand 
man  in  the  matter  of  cattle-breeding  at  the  Braes — on  several 
occasions,  when  a  momentary  pause  occurred,  jumped  to  his 
feet  as  if  on  the  assumption  that  the  discourse  was  finished ; 
but  this  ruse  was  quite  ineffectual,  for  the  preacher  took  no 
notice  of  him.  And  meanwhile  the  huge  figure  of  Roderick 
Munro  could  be  seen  marching  up  and  down  outside  the  win- 
dows, while  a  pair  of  wrathful  eyes  glared  in  from  time  to  time  ; 
and  Lady  Adela,  noticing  these  baleful  glances,  began  to  hope 
that  the  irate  head  keeper  would  not  secretly  instruct  a  gillie  to 
go  and  throw  the  minister  into  the  river  as  he  was  crossing  the 
ford  on  his  way  home. 

"  May  God  forgive  the  scoundrel !"  cried  Lord  Fareborough, 
when,  the  long  sermon  at  length  being  over  and  the  small  crowd 
allowed  to  disperse,  he  was  free  to  hasten  along  to  the  gun-room 
to  get  his  boots.  "  And  I  am  expected  to  shoot  after  having  my 
nerves  tortured  like  this  !  Who  are  going  with  me  ?  Rock- 
minster  and  Lestrange  ?  Well,  they  must  understand  that  I  will 
not  be  hurried  and  flurried — I  say  I  will  not  be  hurried  and  flur- 
ried. I  don't  want  to  fall  down  dead — my  heart  won't  recover 
this  morning's  work  for  months  to  come  ?  God  bless  my  soul, 
who  asked  that  insolent  scoundrel  to  stay  the  night  ?  And  what's 
that,  Waveney — the  ladies  coming  out  to  lunch  ?  The  ladies 
coming  out  to  lunch  on  the  Twelfth — and  the  day  half  over ; 
they  must  be  out  of  their  senses !" 

"  That  is  the  arrangement,"  Captain  Waveney  said,  with  rather 
a  rueful  laugh,  as  he,  too,  was  lacing  up  his  boots.  "  Lady  Rosa- 
mund is  going  to  take  a  sketch  of  the  luncheon-party." 

"  Let  her  take  a  sketch  of  the  devil !"  said  this  very  angry  and 
inconsiderate  papa.  "  Why  can't  she  do  it  some  other  day  ? — 
why  the  Twelfth  ?  Good  heavens  !  is  everything  conspiring  to 
vex  and  annoy  me  so  that  I  sha'n't  be  able  to  hit  a  haystack?" 

"  Sir  Hugh  never  says  '  no'  to  anything  that  Lady  Rosamund 
asks,"  observed  Captain  Waveney,  with  much  good-humor. 

"  Sir  Hugh  be "    And  here  Lord  Fareborough  expressed 

a  wish  about  his  son-in-law  and  host  that  was  probably  only  a 
figure  of  speech. 

"  W^ell,  I  don't  know  about  that,"  the  other  replied,  compla- 
cently, as  he  went  to  the  couch  and  removed  the  cloth  laid  over 
the  guns  to  protect  them  from  the  fine  peat-dust  (for  a  huge  peat- 
6* 


130  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

fire  burned  continuously  in  this  great  gun-room,  for  the  drying  of 
garments  brought  home  wet  from  the  shooting  or  fishing).  "  I 
don't  know  about  that ;  but  at  present  the  arrangement  is  that 
we  lunch  at  the  top  of  the  Bad  Step ;  and  I  believe  that  Miss 
Cunyngham  is  coming  back  from  the  Junction  Pool,  so  that  Lady 
Rosamund  may  have  her  sketch  complete," 

Indeed,  this  untoward  incident  of  the  minister's  misplaced  zeal 
seemed  to  throw  a  certain  gloom  over  the  small  party  to  which 
Lionel  soon  found  himself  attached,  as  it  moved  away  from  the 
house.  The  tall,  brown-bearded  head  keeper  was  in  a  sullen 
rage,  though  he  could  only  reveal  his  wrath  in  sharp  little  sen- 
tences of  discontent.  Sir  Hugh  had  also  been  put  out  at  losing 
the  best  part  of  the  morning ;  and  Captain  Waveney,  who  was 
a  dapper  little  man,  full  of  brisk  spirits,  did  not  care  to  talk  to 
silent  persons.  As  for  Lionel,  he  was  certainly  very  nervous  and 
anxious ;  but  none  the  less  resolved  to  remember  and  act  upon 
Honnor  Cunyngham's  advice.  The  tail  of  the  procession  was 
brought  up  by  a  gillie  leading,  or  rather  holding  in,  two  brace 
of  remarkably  handsome  Gordon  setters,  and  another  gillie  in 
charge  of  a  patient-eyed  pony  with  a  couple  of  panniers  slung 
over  its  back. 

However,  the  busy  work  of  the  day  soon  banished  these  idle 
regrets.  When  they  had  climbed  a  bit  of  the  hillside,  and  passed 
through  a  gate  in  a  rude  stone  wall,  they  stopped  for  a  second 
to  put  cartridges  in  their  guns ;  the  keeper  had  two  of  the  dogs 
uncoupled ;  while  the  gillie,  putting  a  strap  on  the  coupling  of 
the  other  two,  led  them  away  to  a  convenient  knoll,  where  he 
lay  down,  the  gillie  with  the  pony  following  his  example.  And 
scarcely  had  the  two  dogs  begun  to  work  this  open  bit  of  moor- 
land when  one  of  them  suddenly  ceased  its  wide  ranging — sud- 
denly as  if  it  had  been  turned  to  stone  ;  and  then  slowly,  slowly 
it  began  to  draw  forward,  its  companion,  a  younger  dog,  backing 
beautifully  and  looking  on  with  startled,  watchful  eyes.  It  was 
an  anxious  moment  for  the  famous  young  baritone  of  the  New 
Theatre  ;  for  the  dog  was  right  in  front  of  him  ;  and  as  the  three 
guns,  in  line,  stealthily  moved  forward,  he  made  sure  that  this  bird 
was  going  to  get  up  just  before  him.  Despite  all  his  resolve  to 
be  perfectly  cool  and  calm,  his  heart  was  beating  quickly  ;  and 
again  and  again  he  was  repeating  to  himself  Ilonnor  Cunyngham's 
counsel,  and  wondering  whether  he  would  disgrace  himself  at 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  131 

the  very  outset,  when  some  bewildering  brown  thing  sprang  from 
the  ground,  there  was  a  terrific  whir,  a  crack  from  Captain 
Waveney's  gun — and  away  along  there  the  grouse  came  tumbling 
down  into  the  heather.  Almost  at  the  same  moment  there  was 
another  appalling  whir  on  his  right — followed  by  a  bang  from 
Sir  Plugh's  gun — and  another  bird  fell  headlong.  After  the 
briefest  pause  for  reloading,  the  setter,  that  had  obediently 
dropped  at  the  first  shot,  was  encouraged  to  go  forward,  the 
guns  warily  following.  But  it  turned  out  that  this  had  been 
an  outlying  brace  of  birds ;  the  dogs  were  soon  ranging  freely 
again  ;  Roderick  picked  up  the  slain  grouse,  and  the  whole 
party  went  on. 

"  Sorry  you  didn't  get  the  first  shot,  Mr.  Moore,"  said  Sir 
Hugh,  who  was  a  short,  thick-set  man,  with  a  fresh-colored  face, 
iron-gray  hair,  and  keen,  light-blue  eyes. 

"  I  wish  the  birds  would  all  rise  to  you  two,"  Lionel  said. 
"  Then  I  shouldn't  have  to  pitch  into  myself  for  missing," 

"  Oh,  you'll  soon  get  into  the  way  of  it,"  Sir  Hugh  said,  good- 
naturedly.     "  There's  never  much  doing  along  this  face." 

"  I'll  bet  Bruce  is  on  to  something,"  Captain  Waveney  ex- 
claimed, suddenly.  In  fact,  only  one  of  the  ranging  setters  was 
now  in  sight;  and  Roderick  had  quickly  run  up  to  the  top  of  a 
heathery  knoll,  to  have  them  both  in  view.  At  the  same  mo- 
ment they  saw  him  hold  up  his  arm  to  warn  the  inattentive 
Venus. 

"  How,  Venus  !  How,  Venus  !"  he  called,  in  a  low  voice  ;  and 
immediately  the  dog,  observing  that  its  companion  was  drawing 
on  to  a  point,  became  rigid. 

The  guns  were  on  the  scene  directly ;  and  they  were  just  in 
time  ;  for,  with  a  simultaneous  rattle  of  wings  that  seemed  to  fill 
the  air,  a  small  covey  of  birds  sprang  from  the  heather  and  ap- 
peared to  vanish  into  space.  At  least  Lionel  saw  nothing  of 
the  others ;  his  attention  was  concentrated  on  one  that  seemed 
to  be  flying  away  in  a  straight  line  from  Mm  ;  and  after  paus- 
ing for  half  a  second  (during  which  he  was  calling  on  him- 
self to  be  cool)  he  pulled  the  trigger.  To  his  inexpressible 
satisfaction  the  bird  stopped  in  mid-air  and  came  down  with  a 
thump  on  the  heather,  where  it  gave  but  one  flutter  and  then 
lay  still.  He  turned  to  see  what  his  companions  had  done,  with 
their  brisk  fusillade.     But  he  could  not  make  out.     They  were 


133  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

still  watching  the  setter,  that  was  again  being  encouraged  to  go 
on,  lest  a  stray  bird  or  two  might  still  be  in  hiding.  However, 
the  quest  was  fruitless.  The  whole  of  the  small  covey  had  risen 
simultaneously.  So  Roderick  picked  up  the  dead  birds  and  put 
them  on  a  conspicuous  stone,  at  the  same  time  signalling  to  the 
gillie  with  the  pony,  who  was  slowly  coming  up.  Then  the 
shooting-party  went  forward  again. 

"  How  many  birds  rose  then  ?"  Lionel  asked  of  his  host. 

''  Five." 

"  And  you  got  them  all  ?"  he  said,  judging  by  what  he  had 
seen  the  head  keeper  pick  up. 

"  Oh,  yes,  we  got  them  all.  They  spread  out  like  a  fan. 
Waveney  got  one  brace  and  I  another.  I  suppose,"  he  added, 
with  a  smile,  "  you  were  too  intent  on  your  own  bird  to  notice  ?" 

"  Yes,  I  was,"  he  said,  honestly ;  but  he  was  none  the  less 
elated,  for  he  knew  that  a  good  beginning  would  give  him  con- 
fidence. 

And  it  did.  They  were  soon  at  a  part  of  the  moor  where  the 
fun  grew  fast  and  furious;  and,  keeping  as  close  as  he  could 
to  certainties,  or  what  looked  like  certainties,  he  was  doing 
fairly  well.  As  for  the  other  two,  he  could  only  judge  of  their 
prowess  by  the  birds  the  keeper  picked  up ;  for  he  kept  strictly 
to  his  own  business  and  rarely  adventured  on  a  second  shot. 
But  it  was  clear  that  both  Sir  Hugh  and  Captain  Waveney  were 
highly  pleased  with  the  way  things  were  going.  There  were 
plenty  of  birds ;  they  lay  well ;  the  dogs  were  working  beauti- 
fully ;  and  the  bag  was  mounting  up  at  a  rate  that  promised  to 
atone  for  the  delay  of  the  morning.  In  fact,  they  were  now  dis- 
posed to  regard  that  episode  as  rather  a  comical  affair. 

"  I  say,  Waveney,"  Sir  Hugh  remarked,  as  they  paused  for  a 
moment  to  have  a  sip  of  cold  tea,  for  the  day  was  hot,  "  you'd 
better  confess  it ;  you  put  up  the  old  minister  to  give  us  that 
frightfully  long  service  this  morning.  It  was  a  joke  on  Lord 
Fareborough — now,  wasn't  it?" 

"  It  may  have  been  ;  but  I  had  nothing  to  do  with  it,  any- 
way," was  the  answer.  "  Not  I.  Too  serious  a  joke.  I  thought 
his  lordship  was  going  to  have  a  fit  of  apoplexy  when  he  came 
into  the  gun-room." 

"  My  good  follow,  don't  talk  like  that !"  the  other  exclaimed. 
**  If  you  mention  apoplexy  to  liim,  he'll  add  that  on  to  the  hun- 


PRIKCE    FORTUNATUS.  133 

dred  and  twenty  diseases  and  dangers  that  threaten  his  life  every 
moment.  Apoplexy  !  What  has  he  got  already  ? — gout,  asth- 
ma, heart  disease,  his  lungs  giving  way,  his  liver  in  a  frightful 
condition,  his  nervous  system  gone  to  bits — and  yet,  all  the  same, 
the  old  hypocrite  is  going  to  try  for  a  stag  before  he  leaves.  I 
suppose  he'll  want  Roderick  to  carry  him  as  soon  as  he  quits 
the  pony  !  Well,  come  along,  Mr.  Moore ;  we've  done  pretty 
well  so  far,  I  think." 

But  it  was  not  Lionel  who  needed  any  incitement  to  go  for- 
ward ;  he  was  far  more  eager  than  any  of  his  companions,  now 
that  he  had  been  acquitting  himself  none  so  ill.  Moreover,  he 
had  youth  on  his  side  and  a  sound  chest,  while  nature  had  not 
given  him  a  pair  of  well-formed  calves  for  nothing ;  so  that  he 
faced  the  steep  hillsides  or  got  over  the  rough  ground  with  com- 
parative ease,  rejoicing  the  while  in  the  unwonted  freedom  of 
knickerbockers.  It  was  Sir  Hugh,  with  his  bulky  habit  of  body, 
who  got  blown  now  and  again  ;  as  for  Captain  Waveney,  he  was 
a  pretty  tough  subject  and  wiry.  So  they  fought  bravely  on, 
to  atone  for  the  inhuman  detention  of  the  morning ;  and  by  the 
time  it  was  necessary  to  make  for  the  appointed  luncheon  ren- 
dezvous they  had  the  wherewithal  to  give  a  very  excellent  account 
of  themselves. 

Now,  several  times  during  the  morning  they  had  come  in  view 
of  the  Aivron,  winding  far  below  them  through  the  wide  strath, 
or  narrowing  to  a  thread  as  it  rose  towards  the  high  horizon-line 
in  the  west ;  and  always,  when  there  was  a  momentary  chance, 
Lionel's  eye  had  sought  these  distant  sweeps  and  bends  for  some 
glimpse  of  the  lonely  angler-maiden,  and  sought  in  vain.  The 
long  valley  seemed  empty ;  and  some  little  feeling  of  shyness 
prevented  his  asking  his  companions  to  point  out  the  Junction 
Pool,  whither,  as  he  understood,  she  had  been  bound  in  the 
morning.  And  as  they  now  approached  the  appointed  place  of 
meeting,  he  was  quite  disturbed  by  the  fancy  that  she  might 
have  strayed  away  into  unknown  regions  ^md  be  absent  from 
this  general  picnic ;  and  the  moment  they  came  in  sight  of  the 
group  of  people  who  were  strolling  about,  or  looking  on  while  the 
servants  spread  out  the  table-cloth  on  the  heather  and  brought 
forth  the  various  viands,  one  swift  glance  told  him  she  was  not 
present.  Here  was  a  disappointment !  He  wanted  to  tell  her 
how  he  had  got  on,  under  her  kind  instruction — this  was  his 


134  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

own  explanation  of  the  pang  her  absence  caused  him ;  but  pres- 
ently he  had  found  another ;  for  Lady  Rosamund  was  grouping 
the  people  for  her  sketch ;  and  what  would  the  sketch  be  with- 
out Honnor  Cunyngham  in  it  ?     He  made  bold  to  say  so. 

"  Oh,  you  can't  depend  on  Honnor,"  Lady  Adela  said.  "  She 
may  have  risen  a  fish,  or  may  have  got  hold  of  one.  But  if  you 
want  to  know  whether  she  is  likely  to  turn  up,  you  might  go 
out  to  that  point,  Mr.  Moore,  and  then  you'll  be  able  to  see 
whether  she  is  coming  anywhere  near  the  Bad  Step." 

Willingly  enough  he  went  down  through  the  scattered  birch- 
trees  to  a  projecting  point  overlooking  the  river  from  a  very 
considerable  height ;  and  there,  right  below  him,  he  discovered 
what  it  was  they  called  the  Bad  Step.  The  precipice  on  which 
he  stood  going  sheer  down  into  the  Aivron,  the  path  along  the 
stream  left  the  banks  some  distance  off,  came  up  to  where  he 
stood,  and  then  descended  again  by  a  deep  gorge  probably  cut 
by  water-power  through  the  slaty  rock.  And  even  as  he  was 
regarding  this  twilit  chasm  it  suddenly  appeared  to  him  that 
there  were  two  figures  away  down  there,  crossing  the  burn  at 
the  foot ;  and  then  one  of  them,  in  gray — unmistakably  the 
fisher-maiden  herself — began  the  ascent.  How  she  managed  to 
obtain  a  footing  he  could  not  make  out ;  for  the  path  was  no 
path,  but  merely  a  zig-zag  track  on  the  surface  of  the  loose  shingle 
— shingle  so  loose  that  he  could  see  it  yield  to  her  every  step, 
while  the  debris  rolled  away  down  to  the  bed  of  the  burn.  But 
still  she  fought  her  way  upward,  and  at  last  she  stood  face  to 
face  with  him,  smiling,  but  a  little  breathless. 

"  That's  a  frightful  place  to  come  up,"  said  he. 

"  Oh,  it's  nothing,  when  you  know  it,"  she  said,  lightly.  "  Tell 
me,  how  did  you  get  on  this  morning  ?" 

"  Thanks  to  you,  I  think  I  did  pretty  well,"  said  he. 

"  I'm  awfully  glad  of  that,"  said  she  ;  and  the  soft,  clear  hazel 
eyes  repeated  her  words  in  their  own  transparent  way. 

"  I  remembered  all  your  instructions,"  he  continued  (and  he 
was  in  no  hurry  that  Miss  Cunyngham  should  go  on  to  the 
luncheon-party  ;  while  old  Robert  stood  patiently  by).  "  And  I 
was  very  fortunate  in  getting  easy  shots.  Then  when  I  did 
miss,  either  Sir  Hugh  or  Captain  Wavcney  was  sure  to  get  the 
bird ;  I  never  saw  such  smart  shooting." 

"  What  have  yfi  done  ?" 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  I35 

"  Altogether  ?" 

"  Yes." 

"  I  don't  know.  The  panniers  are  being  emptied,  to  make  a 
show  for  Lady  Rosamund's  sketch.  I  fancy  there  are  close  on 
sixty  brace  of  grouse,  with  some  blue  hares  and  a  snipe  and  a 
wild  duck." 

"  What  has  Lord  Fareborough's  party  done  ?" 

"  I  don't  know ;  they  have  just  shown  up — so  you  needn't 
hurry  on  unless  you  are  hungry." 

"  But  I  am — very  hungry,"  said  she,  with  a  laugh.  "  I  have 
been  hard  at  work  all  the  morning." 

"  Oh,  in  that  case,"  he  said,  eagerly,  "  by  all  means  come 
along,  and  I'll  get  you  something  at  once.  You  and  I  needn't 
wait  for  the  emptying  of  the  other  panniers.  Oh,  yes,  that  will 
do  first-rate  ;  I'm  a  duflfer  at  shooting,  you  know,  Miss  Cunyng- 
ham,  but  I'm  a  splendid  forager  at  a  picnic.  Let  me  carry  the 
gaff  for  you." 

"  Oh,  no,  thank  you,"  she  said,  "  I  merely  use  it  as  a  walking- 
stick  coming  up  the  Bad  Step." 

"And  there,"  he  exclaimed,  as  they  went  on  through  the 
birch-wood,  "  look  at  the  selfishness  of  men  !  You  ask  all  about 
my  shooting ;  but  I  never  asked  what  luck  you  had  with  your 
fishing." 

"  Well,  I've  had  rather  bad  luck,"  she  said,  simply.  "  I  lost 
a  fish  in  the  Geinig  Pool,  after  having  him  on  for  about  five  min- 
utes, and  I  rose  another  in  the  Horse-Shoe  Pool  and  couldn't 
get  him  to  come  again  all  I  could  do.  But  I  mean  to  call  upon 
him  in  the  afternoon." 

A  sudden  inspiration  flashed  into  his  brain. 

"  I  should  like  to  come  and  see  you  try  for  him,"  he  said, 
quickly.  "  1  suppose  they  wouldn't  mind  my  sending  home  my 
gun  ?" 

"  Mr.  Moore  !"  she  said,  with  her  eyes  downcast.  "  They'd 
think  you  were  mad  to  leave  a  shooting-party  on  the  Twelfth. 
You  can  see  a  salmon  caught,  or  catch  one  yourself,  any  time," 

He  felt  a  little  bit  snubbed,  he  hardly  knew  why ;  but  of 
course  she  knew  what  was  right  in  all  such  things ;  and  so  he 
humbly  acquiesced.  Indeed,  he  could  not  contest  the  point, 
for  now  they  had  come  upon  the  picnic -party,  where  luncheon 
was  in  full  swinfj.     Lord  Fareborouo^h  had  declared  on  his  ar- 


136  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

rival  that  he  would  not  wait  for  the  completion  of  his  daughter's 
sketch ;  his  nervous  system  was  not  to  be  tried  in  any  such 
fashion ;  luncheon  must  be  proceeded  with  at  once,  and  Lady 
Rosamund  could  make  her  drawing  when  the  gentlemen  were 
smoking  afterwards.  Lady  Adela  wanted  to  wait  for  Mr.  Moore, 
but  she,  too,  was  overruled  by  the  impatient  hypochondriac.  So 
Lionel  set  to  work  to  form  a  seat  for  Miss  Ilonnor,  out  of  some 
bracken  that  the  gillies  had  cut  and  brought  along ;  and  also  he 
exclusively  looked  after  her — to  Miss  Georgie  Lestrange's  cha- 
grin ;  for  Lord  Rockminster  was  too  lazy  to  attend  to  any  one  but 
himself,  and  what  girl  likes  being  waited  on  by  her  brother 
when  other  young  men  are  about  ? 

And  now  the  burly  and  broad-shouldered  host  of  all  these 
people  called  on  them  to  unanimously  forgive  the  minister  for 
the  injury  he  had  unintentionally  done  them  in  the  morning. 

"  It  wasn't  the  good  man's  fault  at  all  ;  it  was  Waveney's," 
Sir  Hugh  continued,  as  he  got  hold  of  a  spoon  and  delved  it  into 
a  pigeon-pie.  "  I  assure  you  it  was  a  practical  joke  that  Cap- 
tain Waveney  played  upon  the  whole  of  you.  He  gave  the  min- 
ister a  little  hint — and  the  thing  was  done." 

Lord  Fareborough  glared  at  the  culprit  as  if  he  expected  to 
see  the  heavens  fall  upon  him ;  but  Lady  Adela  observed,  with 
a  touch  of  dignity, 

"  I  hope  I  know  Captain  Waveney  well  enough  not  to  be- 
lieve that  he  would  turn  any  religious  service  into  a  practical 
joke." 

"  I  hope  so,  too.  Lady  Adela,"  the  dapper  little  captain  in- 
stantly replied,  though  without  any  great  embarrassment. 
"  That's  hardly  my  line  of  country.  But  there's  another  thing: 
Sir  Hugh  may  ask  you  to  believe  anything,  but  he  won't  make 
you  believe  that  I  could  trifle  with  such  a  sacred  subject  as  the 
morning  of  the  Twelftli." 

"  Faith,  you're  right  there,  Waveney,"  Sir  Hugh  said,  with  a 
laugh.  "  Well,  we've  done  our  best  to  make  up  for  the  loss  of 
time.  And  now,  Rose,  if  you  want  to  have  your  sketch,  fire 
away !  I'm  going  to  light  a  pipe ;  but,  mind,  we  sha'n't  stop 
here  very  long.  You'd  better  put  in  us  men  at  once;  and  then 
you  can  draw  in  the  ladies  and  the  game  and  the  luncheon  at 
your  leisure." 

"  And   if   you   want    me,  Rose,"   Ilonnor   Cunyngham    said, 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  137 

"  please  put  me  in  at  once,  too  ;  for  I'm  going  away  back  to  the 
Horseshoe  Pool." 

"  My  dear  child,"  Lady  Adela  protested,  "  you'll  break  your 
neck  some  day  going  down  that  Bad  Step.  I  really  think  Hugh 
should  have  a  windlass  at  the  top  and  let  people  down  by  a  rope. 
Now  look  alive,  Rose,  and  get  your  sketch  begun  ;  I  can  see  the 
gentlemen  are  all  impatient  to  be  off.  And  mind  you  have  Mr. 
Moore  rolling  up  a  cigarette :  it  won't  be  natural  otherwise." 

She  was  right  about  one  thing,  anyway ;  the  sportsmen  were 
undoubtedly  impatient  to  be  off;  and  it  is  to  be  feared  that 
Lady  Rosamund's  sketch  suffered  by  the  restlessness  of  her 
models.  Indeed,  after  a  very  little  while.  Lord  Fareborough  in- 
dignantly rose,  and  declared  he  never  had  known  a  Twelfth  of  xVu- 
gust  so  shamelessly  sacrificed.  He,  for  one,  would  have  no  more 
of  it.  He  called  to  the  under-keeper  to  bring  along  the  gillies  and 
the  dogs ;  whereupon  Lady  Rosamund,  who  had  a  temper  not 
quite  in  consonance  with  the  calm  and  statuesque  beauty  of  her 
features,  closed  her  sketch-book  and  threw  it  aside,  saying  she 
would  make  the  drawing  some  other  day  when  she  found  the 
gentlemen  a  little  more  considerate. 

And  soon  Lionel  and  his  two  companions  were  at  their  brisk 
occupation  again  ;  though  ever  and  anon  his  thoughts  would  go 
wandering  away  to  the  Horseshoe  Pool,  and  his  fancy  was 
picturing  the  fisher-maiden  on  the  summit  of  a  great  gray  boul- 
der, while  a  fifteen-pounder  raced  and  chased  in  the  black  deeps 
below.  Sometimes  he  tried  to  get  a  glimpse  of  the  upper 
stretches  of  the  river ;  but  this  was  a  dangerous  trick  when  all 
his  attention  was  demanded  by  the  work  on  hand.  In  any  case 
his  scrutiny  of  those  far  regions  was  unavailing ;  for  the  Horse- 
shoe Pool  is  on  the  Geinig,  a  tributary  of  the  Aivron,  and  not 
visible  from  the  hill-slopes  along  which  they  were  now  shooting. 

The  bag  mounted  up  steadily ;  for  the  afternoon,  despite  the 
threats  of  the  morning,  remained  fine  and  clear  and  still ;  the 
birds  lay  close,  and  the  two  outside  guns  were  skilful  perform- 
ers. As  for  Lionel,  he  had  now  acquired  a  certain  confidence ; 
he  took  no  shame  that  he  reserved  for  himself  the  easy  shots ; 
the  nasty  ones  he  could  safely  leave  to  his  companions.  At 
last,  as  they  came  in  sight  of  a  lovely  little  tarn  lying  under  a 
distant  hillock,  and  could  descry  two  small  dots  floating  on  the 
smooth  surface  of  the  water,  Sir  Hugh  said  to  his  head  keeper, 


138  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  See  here,  Roderick,  are  those  duck  or  mergansers  ?" 

The  keeper  took  a  long  look  before  he  made  reply. 

"  I'm  not  sure.  Sir  Hugh,  but  I  am  thinking  they  are  mer- 
gansers, for  I  was  seeing  two  or  three  lately." 

"  Very  well,  call  in  the  dogs.  I'm  going  to  sit  down  and 
have  a  pipe.  I  suppose  you'll  do  the  same,  Mr.  Moore — thougli 
I  must  say  this  for  you  that  you  can  walk.  You  have  the  ad- 
vantage of  youth,  and  you  haven't  as  much  to  carry  as  I  have. 
Well,  I  propose  we  have  a  few  minutes'  rest ;  and  we  will  oc- 
cupy ourselves  in  watching  Waveney  stalk  those  mergansers. 
There's  a  job  for  you,  Waveney.  They  are  the  most  detestable 
birds  alive  to  have  near  a  forest  or  a  salmon-stream." 

"  Why,  what  harm  can  they  do  to  the  salmon  ?"  Lionel  asked, 
as  he  saw  Captain  Waveney  at  once  change  the  cartridges  in  his 
gun  for  No.  4's  and  set  off  down  the  hillside. 

"  They  snap  up  the  parr,  of  course,"  said  his  heavy-shouldered 
host,  as  he  drew  out  a  wooden  pipe  and  a  pouch  of  black  Caven- 
dish," but  that  isn't  the  worst:  they  disturb  the  pools  most 
abominably — swimming  about  under  water  they  frighten  the 
salmon  out  of  their  senses.  But  when  you  get  them  about  a 
deer-forest  they  are  a  still  more  intolerable  nuisance  ;  you  are 
never  safe;  just  as  you  are  getting  up  to  the  stag,  creeping 
along  the  course  of  a  burn,  perhaps,  bang !  goes  one  of  those 
brutes  like  a  sky-rocket,  and  the  whole  herd  are  instantly  on  the 
alert.  Oh,  that's  a  job  old  Waveney  likes  well  enough ;  and  it 
will  give  the  dogs  a  rest  as  well  as  ourselves." 

By  this  time  the  stalker  had  got  out  of  sight.  He  was  mak- 
ing a  considerable  detour,  so  as  to  get  round  by  the  back  of  the 
hillock  unobserved ;  and  when  he  came  into  view  again,  he  was 
on  the  other  side  of  the  valley.  The  mergansers,  if  they  were 
mergansers,  were  still  swimming  about  unsuspectingly,  though 
sometimes  at  a  considerable  distance  a})art. 

"  Does  Miss  Cunyngham  shoot  as  well  as  fish  ?"  Lionel  ven- 
tured to  ask. 

"  She  has  tried  it,"  her  brother  said,  as  he  called  up  Roderick 
and  gave  him  a  dram  out  of  his  capacious  flask.  "  And  I  think 
she  might  shoot  very  well,  but  slie  doesn't  care  about  it.  It  is 
too  violent,  she  says.  The  sudden  bang  disturbs  the  charm  of 
the  scenery — something  of  that  kind — I'm  not  up  in  these 
things ;  but  she's  an  odd  kind  of  girl.     Tremendously  fond  of 


I 


PRINCE    FORTUNATDS.  I39 

quietude  and  solitude  ;  we've  found  her  in  the  most  unexpected 
places — and  there  are  some  lonely  places  about  these  hills.  I 
tell  her  she  shouldn't  go  on  these  long-  excursions  without  tak- 
ing old  Robert  with  her ;  supposing  she  were  to  sprain  her 
ankle,  she  might  have  to  remain  there  all  night  and  half  the 
next  day  before  we  could  find  her.  Sooner  or  later  I  know  she'll 
startle  some  solitary  shepherd  out  of  his  senses  :  he'll  come  back 
to  his  hut  swearing  that  he  has  seen  a  Gray  Lady  where  no  mor- 
tal woman  could  be.  Hullo,  there's  Waveney  again — he'll  soon 
be  on  them." 

They  could  see  him  stealing  across  the  top  of  the  hillock,  and 
then  making  his  way  down  behind  certain  rocks  that  served  as 
a  screen  between  him  and  the  birds.  Then  he  disappeared 
again. 

"  Why  doesn't  he  fire  ?"  Lionel  asked,  presently.  "  He  must 
be  quite  close  to  them." 

"  Not  so  close  as  you  imagine,"  was  the  answer.  "  Probably 
he  is  waiting  until  they  come  nearer  together." 

The  next  moment  there  stepped  boldly  forth  the  slight,  brown 
figure ;  the  birds  instantly  rose  from  the  water  and,  with  swift, 
straight  flight,  made  down  the  valley ;  but  they  had  not  got 
many  yards  wlien  there  were  two  white  puffs  of  smoke,  both 
birds  almost  simultaneously  came  tumbling  to  the  ground,  and 
then  followed  the  double  report  of  a  gun. 

"  Waveney  has  got  his  eye  in  to-day  for  certain,"  Sir  Hugh 

said.     "  But  what's  the  use  of  his  bringing  the  birds  along  ? 

they're  no  good  to  anybody." 

"  I  thought  perhaps  they  might  be  of  some  use  for  salmon- 
flies,"  Captain  Waveney  explained,  as  he  came  up.  "  Aren't 
they,  Roderick  ?" 

The  keeper  regarded  the  two  birds  contemptuously,  and  shook 
his  head. 

"  Well,  Waveney,  we  will  give  you  five  minutes'  grace,  if  you 
like,"  Sir  Hugh  said.     "  Sit  down  and  have  a  pipe." 

But  this  slim  and  wiry  warrior  had  not  even  taken  the  gun 
from  his  shoulder. 

"  No,-no,"  said  he,  "  if  you  are  ready,  I  am.  I  can  get  plenty 
of  smoking  done  in  the  South." 

So  they  began  again  ;  but  the  afternoon  was  now  on  the  wane 
and  the  beats  were  leading  them  homewards.     Only  two  small 


140  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

incidents  tLat  befell  the  novice  need  mentioning.  The  first  hap- 
pened in  this  wise  :  the  dogs  were  ranging  widely  over  what  ap- 
peared to  be  rather  a  barren  beat,  when  suddenly  one  of  them 
came  to  a  dead  point  a  considerable  distance  on.  Of  course 
Captain  Waveney  and  Sir  Hugh  hurried  forward ;  but  Lionel 
could  not,  for  he  had  got  into  trouble  with  a  badly  jammed  car- 
tridge. Just  as  he  heard  the  first  shot  fired,  he  managed  to  get 
the  empty  case  extracted  and  to  replace  it  with  a  full  one ;  and 
then  he  was  about  to  hasten  forward  when  he  saw  the  covey 
rise — a  large  covey  it  was — while  Captain  Waveney  got  a  right 
and  left,  and  Sir  Hugh  fired  his  remaining  barrel,  for  he  had 
not  had  time  to  reload.  At  the  same  instant  Lionel  found  that 
one  of  the  birds  had  doubled  back  and  was  coming  right  over 
his  head ;  up  went  his  gun ;  he  blazed  away ;  and  down  rolled 
the  grouse  some  dozen  yards  behind  him. 

"  Well  done  !"  Sir  Hugh  called  out.     "  A  capital  shot !" 

"  A  ghastly  fluke,  Sir  Hugh  T'  Lionel  called  out,  in  return.  "  I 
simply  fired  in  the  air." 

"  And  a  very  good  way  of  firing,  too  !"  was  the  naive  rejoin- 
der. 

But  his  next  achievement  was  hardly  so  creditable.  They 
were  skirting  the  edge  of  a  birch-wood  that  clothed  the  side  of 
a  steep  precipice  overlooking  the  Aivron,  where  there  were  some 
patches  of  bracken  among  the  heather,  when  the  setter  in  front 
of  him — a  young  dog — began  to  draw  rather  falteringly  on  to 
something. 

"  Ware  rabbit,  Hector !"  the  keeper  said,  in  an  undertone. 

But  meanwhile  the  older  dog,  that  was  backing  in  front  of 
Captain  Waveney,  whether  it  was  impatient  of  this  uncertainty 
on  the  part  of  its  younger  companion,  or  whether  it  was  jealous, 
managed,  unobserved,  to  steal  forward  a  foot  or  two,  until  sud- 
denly it  stopped  rigid. 

"  Good  dog,  L-is,  good  dog !"  Captain  Waveney  said  (for  he 
had  overlooked  that  little  bit  of  stealthy  advance),  and  he  shift- 
ed his  gun  from  his  right  hand  to  liis  left,  and  stooped  down 
and  patted  the  animal's  neck — though  all  the  time  he  was  look- 
ing well  ahead. 

Then  all  at  once  there  was  a  terrific  whir  of  wings ;  Waveney 
quickly  put  his  gun  to  his  shoulder — paused — took  it  down 
again  ;  at  the  same  moment  Lionel,  finding  a  bird  within  his 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  141 

proper  field,  as  he  considered — though  it  was  going  away  at  a 
prodigious  speed — took  steady  aim  and  fired.  That  distant  ob- 
ject dropped — there  was  not  a  flutter.  Of  course  the  keeper 
and  Sir  Hugh  were  still  watching  the  young  dog;  but  when 
this  doubtful  scent  came  to  nothing,  Sir  Hugh  turned  to 
Lionel. 

"  That  was  a  long  shot  of  yours,  Mr.  Moore,"  said  he.  "  And 
very  excusable." 

"  Excusable  ?"  said  Lionel,  wondering  what  he  had  done  this 
time. 

"  Of  course  you  knew  that  was  a  blackcock  ?"  the  other  said. 

"  A  blackcock  ?"  he  repeated. 

"  Didn't  you  hear  Roderick  call  out  ?  Didn't  you  see  Wave- 
ney  put  up  his  gun  and  then  take  it  down  ?" 

"  Neither  the  one  nor  the  other ;  I  only  saw  a  bird  before  me 
— and  fired." 

"  Oh,  well,  there's  no  great  harm  done  ;  if  a  man  has  no  worse 
sin  on  his  conscience  than  shooting  a  blackcock  on  the  Twelfth, 
he  should  sleep  sound  o'  nights.  Waveney  is  fastidious.  I 
dare  say,  if  the  bird  had  come  my  way,  I  should  not  have  resist- 
ed the  temptation." 

Lionel  considered  that  Sir  Hugh  was  an  exceedingly  consider- 
ate and  good-natured  person ;  and  in  fact  when  they  picked  up 
the  dead  bird,  and  when  he  was  regarding  its  handsome  plumage, 
it  cannot  fairly  be  said  that  he  was  very  sorry  for  his  venial  mis- 
take. Only  he  considered  he  was  bound  in  honor  to  make  con- 
fession to  Miss  Cunyngham. 

Alas  !  he  was  to  see  little  of  Miss  Cunyngham  that  night.  As 
soon  as  dinner  w^as  over — and  Sir  Hugh  and  his  satellite  had 
left  the  dining-room  to  enter  up  the  game-book,  write  labels  for 
special  friends,  and  generally  finish  up  the  business  of  the  day 
— Lady  Adela  proposed  a  game  of  Dumb  Crambo ;  and  in  this 
she  was  heartily  backed  up  by  the  Lestranges,  for  Miss  Georgie 
seemed  to  think  that  the  mantle  of  Kitty  Clive  had  descended 
upon  her  shoulders,  while  her  brother  evidently  regarded  him- 
self as  a  facetious  person.  Speedily  it  appeared,  however,  that 
there  was  to  be  a  permanent  and  stationary  audience.  Lord 
Fareborough — especially  after  dinner,  when  his  nervous  system 
was  still  in  dark  deliberation  as  to  what  it  meant  to  do  with  him 
— was  too  awful  a  personage  to  be  approached ;  Honnor  Cun- 


143  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

yngham  good-liuinoredly  said  that  she  was  too  stupid  to  join  in  ; 
and  Lord  Rockminster  declared  that  if  that  was  her  excuse,  it 
apphed  much  more  obviously  to  himself.  Accordingly,  the  re- 
maining members  of  the  house-party  had  to  form  the  entertain- 
ers ;  and  never  had  Lionel  entered  into  any  pastime  with  so  lit- 
tle zest.  These  people  could  not  act  a  bit,  and  yet  he  had  to 
coach  them ;  and  then  he  and  they  had  to  go  into  the  drawing- 
room  and  perform  their  antics  before  that  calm-browed  young 
lady  (who  nevertheless  regarded  the  proceedings  with  the  most 
friendly  interest)  and  her  companion,  the  stolid  young  lord. 
He  could  not  help  acknowledging  to  himself  that  Miss  Honnor 
Cunyngham  and  Lord  Rockminster  formed  a  remarkably  hand- 
some couple  as  they  sat  together  there  on  a  couch  at  right  angles 
with  the  fireplace ;  but  the  distinguished  appearance  of  the  au- 
dience did  not  console  him  for  the  consciousness  that  the  per- 
formers were  making  themselves  absurd.  He  was  impatient, 
ashamed,  of  the  whole  affair.  Dark  and  sullen  thoughts  went 
flashing  through  his  brain  of  saving  up  every  penny  he  could 
get  hold  of  and  going  away  into  some  savage  wilderness  in  Ross 
or  Sutherland,'  to  be  seen  of  actors  and  amateurs  no  more.  His 
gun  and  his  rod  would  be  his  sole  companions;  his  library 
would  consist  of  St.  John,  Colquhoun,  "  Stonehcnge,"  and  Fran- 
cis (not  of  Assisi) ;  by  moor  and  stream  he  would  earn  his  own 
subsistence ;  and  theatres  and  fashionable  life  and  the  fantastic 
aspirations  and  ambitions  of  les  Precieuses  Ridicules  would  be 
banished  from  him  forever.  But  fortunately  a  nine-o'clock  din- 
ner had  driven  this  foolish  entertainment  late,  so  that  it  did  not 
last  long  ;  the  ladies  were  unanimously  willing  to  retire  ;  the  gen- 
tlemen thereupon  trooped  off  to  the  gun-room  to  have  a  smoke 
and  a  glass  of  whiskey  and  soda  water  ;  and  very  soon  there- 
after the  deep-breathing  calm  of  the  whole  household  told  that 
the  labors  of  the  Twelfth  were  over. 


CHAPTER  LX. 

VENATOR     IMMEMOR. 


And  wliy  was  it,  when,  in  course  of  time,  it  became  practi- 
cable to  arrange  a  deer-stalking  expedition  for  liiiii,  why  was  it 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  143 

that  he  voluntarily  chose  to  encounter  what  Lord  Rockrainster 
had  called  the  very  extremes  of  fatigue  and  human  misery  ?  He 
knew  that  he  was  about  to  undergo  tortures  of  anxiety  and  pri- 
vation ;  and,  what  was  worse,  he  knew  he  was  going  to  miss. 
He  had  saturated  his  mind  with  gillies'  stories  of  capital  shots 
who  had  completely  lost  their  nerve  on  first  catching  sight  of  a 
stag.  The  "  buck-ague  "  was  already  upon  him.  Not  for  him 
was  there  waiting  away  in  these  wilds  some  Muckle  Uart  of 
Ben  More  to  gain  a  deathless  fame  from  his  rifle-bullet.  He 
was  about  to  half-kill  himself  with  the  labors  of  a  long  and 
arduous  expedition,  and  at  the  end  of  it  he  foresaw  himself  re- 
turning home  defeated,  dejected,  in  the  deepest  throes  of  morti- 
fication and  chagrin. 

And  look  what  he  was  giving  up.  Here  was  a  whole  house- 
ful of  charming  women  all  ready  to  pet  him  and  make  much 
of  him  ;  and  in  their  society  he  would  be  at  home,  dealing  with 
things  with  which  he  was  familiar.  Lady  Sybil  would  be  grate- 
ful to  him  if  he  helped  her  with  the  music  she  was  arranging 
for  "  Alfred  :  a  Masque  ;"  he  could  be  of  abundant  service,  too, 
to  Lady  Rosamund,  who  was  now  making  individual  studies  for 
her  large  drawing  of  "  Luncheon  on  the  Twelfth  ;"  though  per- 
haps he  could  not  lend  much  aid  to  Lady  Adela,  who  was  un- 
derstood to  be  getting  on  very  well  with  her  new  novel.  But, 
at  all  events,  he  would  be  in  his  own  element ;  he  would  be 
among  things  that  he  understood ;  he  would  be  no  trembling 
ignoramus  adventuring  forth  into  the  unknown.  And  yet  when, 
early  in  the  morning,  the  old  and  sturdy  pony  was  brought  round 
to  the  door,  and  when  the  brown-bearded  Roderick  had  shoul- 
dered the  rifle  and  was  ready  to  set  forth,  Lionel  had  little 
thought  of  surrendering  his  chance  to  any  one  else. 

"  I  call  this  very  shabby  treatment,"  his  burly  and  good-hu- 
mored host  said,  as  he  stood  at  the  open  door.  "  When  a  man 
goes  stalking,  if  there's  a  pretty  girl  in  the  house,  she  ought  to 
make  her  appearance  and  give  him  a  little  present  for  good 
luck.  It's  an  understood  thing ;  it's  an  old  custom ;  and  yet 
there  isn't  one  of  those  lazy  creatures  down  yet." 

"  This  is  the  best  I  can  do  for  you,  old  fellow,"  Percy  Le- 
strange  said,  at  the  same  moment.  "  I  can't  give  you  the  flask, 
for  my  sister  Georgie  gave  it  to  me ;  but  I  will  lend  it  to  you 
for  the  day  ;  and  it's  filled  with  an  excellent  mixture  of  cura^oa 


144  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

and  brandy.  You'll  want  some  comfort ;  and  I  don't  expect 
they'll  let  you  smoke.     What  do  you  think  of  my  crest?" 

He  handed  the  silver  flask  to  Lionel,  who  found  engraved  on 
the  side  of  it  a  merry  and  ingenious  device,  consisting  of  two 
briar-root  pipes,  crossed,  and  surrounded  by  a  heraldic  garter 
bearing  the  legend  "  Dulce  est  de-siji-ere  in  loco  .^"  Was  this 
Miss  Georgie's  little  joke  ?  Anyhow,  he  pocketed  the  flask  with 
much  gratitude ;  he  guessed  he  might  have  need  of  it,  if  all 
tales  were  true. 

"  I  hope  you'll  get  a  presentable  head,"  Sir  Hugh  said.  "  The 
stags  themselves  are  not  in  very  good  condition  yet ;  but  the 
horns  are  all  right — the  velvet's  off." 

"  It  doesn't  much  matter,"  Lionel  made  answer,  contentedly. 
"  I  know  beforehand  I  am  going  to  miss.  Well,  good-bye,  for 
the  present !     Go  ahead,  Maggie  !" 

But  at  the  same  moment  there  was  a  glimmer  of  a  gray  dress 
in  the  twilight  of  the  hall ;  and  the  next  moment  Honnor  Cun- 
yngham  appeared  on  the  doorstep,  the  morning  light  shining  on 
her  smiling  face. 

"  Mr.  Moore,"  she  said,  coming  forward  without  any  kind  of 
embarrassment,  "  there's  an  old  custom — didn't  my  brother  tell 
you  ? — you  must  take  a  little  gift  from  some  one  in  the  house, 
just  as  you  are  going  away,  for  good  luck.  You  haven't  yet  ? 
Here  it  is,  then." 

"  It  is  exceedingly  kind  of  you,"  said  he  ;  "  and  I  wish  I  could 
make  the  omen  come  true  ;  but  I  have  no  such  hope.  I  know  I 
am  going  to  miss." 

"  You  are  going  to  kill  a  stag !"  said  she,  confidently.  "  That 
is  what  you  are  going  to  do.     Well,  good-bye,  and  good-luck  !" 

So  the  little  party  of  three — Lionel,  Roderick,  and  the  attend- 
ant gillie — straightway  left  the  lodge  and  began  to  make  for 
the  head  of  the  strath.  And  it  was  not  altogether  about  deer 
that  Lionel  was  now  thinking.  The  tiny,  thin  packet  he  held  in 
his  hand  seemed  to  burn  there.  What  was  it  Ilonnor  Cunyng- 
ham  had  brought  down-stairs  for  him  ?  However  trivial  it  might 
be,  surely  it  was  something  he  could  keep.  She  had  given  it  to 
him  for  good  luck  ;  but  her  wishes  were  not  confined  to  this  one 
day  ?  Then,  when  he  had  got  some  distance  from  the  house,  so 
that  his  curiosity  could  not  be  observed,  he  threw  the  reins  on 
Maggie's  neck,  and  proceeded  to  open  this  sinall  packet  covered 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  145 

with  white  paper.  What  did  he  find  there? — why,  only  a  six- 
pence— a  briglit  new  sixpence — not  to  be  compared  in  value  with 
the  dozens  on  dozens  of  presents  which  were  lavished  upon  him 
by  his  fair  admirers  in  London — courteous  little  attentions  which, 
it  must  be  confessed,  he  had  grown  to  regard  with  a  somewhat 
callous  indifference.  Only  a  small,  bright  coin  this  was  ;  and  yet 
he  carefully  wrapped  np  the  precious  talisman  again  in  its  bit  of 
tissue  paper ;  and  as  carefully  he  put  it  away  in  a  waistcoat 
pocket,  where  it  would  be  safe,  even  among  the  rough-and-tumble 
experiences  that  lay  before  him.  The  day  seemed  all  the  hap- 
pier, all  the  more  hopeful,  that  he  knew  this  little  token  of  friend- 
ly sympathy  was  in  his  possession.  Ought  not  a  lucky  sixpence 
to  have  a  hole  bored  in  it  ?  He  could  wear  it  in  secret,  even  if 
she  might  not  care  to  see  it  hanging  at  his  watch-chain  ;  and  who 
could  tell  what  subtle  influence  it  might  not  bring  to  bear  on  his 
fortunes,  wholly  apart  from  the  stalking  of  stags?  He  grew 
quite  cheerful ;  he  forgot  his  nervousness  ;  he  was  talking  gayly 
to  the  somewhat  taciturn  Roderick,  who,  nevertheless,  no  doubt 
much  preferred  to  find  his  pupil  in  this  confident  mood. 

Their  course  at  first  lay  along  the  nearer  bank  of  the  Aivron  ; 
but  when  they  had  got  away  up  the  strath  towards  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  Bad  Step — which  was,  of  course,  impassable  for 
the  pony — Lionel  had  to  separate  from  his  companions  and  ford 
the  river,  following  up  the  other  side.  Fortunately  there  was 
not  much  water  in  the  stream ;  old  Maggie  knew  her  way  well 
enough ;  and  with  nothing  more  than  an  occasional  stumble 
among  the  slippery  boulders  and  loose  stones  they  reached  the 
opposite  bank  in  safety.  About  a  mile  farther  up  the  return 
crossing  had  to  be  made ;  but  this  second  ford  was  shallow  and 
easy ;  and  thenceforward  the  united  party  went  on  together. 
At  last  they  struck  the  Geinig  ;  and  here  a  rude  track  took  them 
away  from  the  valley  of  the  Aivron  altogether,  mto  a  solitary 
land  of  moor  and  rock. 

It  was  a  still  and  rather  louring  morning ;  but  yet  he  did  not 
perceive  any  gloom  in  it  at  all ;  nay,  there  was  rather  a  tender 
and  wistful  beauty  up  in  this  lonely  wilderness  he  was  entering. 
The  heavy  masses  of  cloud  hung  low  and  brooding  over  the  pur- 
ple hills ;  the  heavens  seemed  to  be  in  close  communion  with 
the  murmuring  streams  in  these  otherwise  voiceless  solitudes ; 
the  long  undulations  were  not  darkly  stained,  they  only  lay  un- 


146  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

der  a  soft,  transparent  shadow.  Even  among  the  grays  and  pur- 
ple-grays of  the  sky  there  was  here  and  there  a  mild  sheen  of 
silver ;  and  now  and  again  a  pale  radiance  would  begin  to  tell 
upon  an  uprising  slope,  until  something  almost  like  sunlight 
shone  there,  glorifying  the  lichened  rocks  and  the  crimson 
lieather.  This  was  one  of  the  days  that  Honnor  Cunyngham 
loved ;  and  he,  too,  had  got  to  appreciate  their  sombre  beauty, 
the  brooding  calm,  the  gracious  silence,  when  he  went  with  her 
on  her  fishing  expeditions  into  the  wilds.  And  here  was  her 
favorite  Geinig — sometimes  with  tawny  masses  boiling  down 
between  the  boulders,  sometimes  sweeping  in  a  black-brown 
current  round  a  sudden  curve,  and  sometimes  racing  over  sil- 
ver-gray shallows ;  but  always  with  this  continuous  murmur 
that  seemed  to  offer  a  kind  of  companionship  where  there  was 
no  other  sound  or  sign  of  life.  And  would  she  be  up  here  later 
on  ?  he  asked  himself,  with  a  curious  kind  of  interest.  Would 
she  have  a  thought  for  the  small  party  that  had  passed  in  the 
early  morning  and  disappeared  into  the  remote  and  secret  fast- 
nesses among  those  lonely  hills  ?  Might  she  linger  on  in  the 
evening,  in  the  hope  of  finding  them  coming  home  again — per- 
chance with  joyful  news  ?  For,  after  all,  this  lucky  sixpence  had 
buoyed  up  his  spirits ;  he  was  not  so  entirely  certain  he  would 
miss,  if  anything  like  a  fair  chance  presented  itself ;  and  he 
knew  that  if  that  chance  did  offer,  he  would  bring  all  that  was 
iu  him  to  bear  on  the  controlling  of  his  nerves — he  would  not 
breathe — his  life  would  be  concentrated  on  the  small  cleft  of  the 
rifle — if  his  heart  cracked  in  twain  the  instant  after  the  trigger 
was  pulled. 

But  these  vague  and  anxious  speculations  were  soon  to  be  dis- 
carded for  the  immediate  interests  of  the  moment.  They  were 
getting  near  to  the  ground — after  a  sufficiently  rough  journey 
of  close  on  eight  miles;  and  now,  as  they  came  to  tlie  bed  of  a 
little  burn,  Lionel  was  bidden  to  descend  from  his  venerable 
steed ;  the  saddle  was  taken  off ;  and  old  Maggie  was  hobbled, 
and  left  to  occupy  herself  with  the  fresli,  sweet  grass  growing 
near  to  the  stream. 

"  Now  look  here,  Roderick,"  Lionel  said,  "  I'm  entirely  in  your 
hands,  and  mind  you  don't  spare  me.  Since  I'm  in  for  it,  I  mean 
to  see  it  through." 

"  When  it  is  after  a  stag  we  are,  there  is  no  sparing  of  any 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  147 

one,"  said  Roderick,  significantly,  as  he  took  ont  his  telescope. 
"  And  you  will  think  of  this,  sir,  that  if  we  are  crahling  along, 
and  come  on  the  deer  without  expecting  it,  and  if  they  see  you, 
then  you  will  lie  still  like  a  stone.  Many's  the  time  they  will 
chist  stand  and  look  at  you,  if  you  do  not  move ;  and  then 
slowly,  slowly  you  will  put  your  head  down  in  the  heather  again, 
and  wait  till  I  tell  you  what  to  do.  But  if  you  go. out  of  sight 
quick — ay,  so  will  they." 

At  first,  as  it  appeared  to  Lionel,  they  went  forward  with  a 
dangerous  fearlessness,  the  keeper  merely  using  his  natural  eye- 
sight to  search  the  slopes  and  corries ;  but  presently  he  began 
to  go  more  warily  ;  again  and  again  he  paused,  to  watch  the  mo- 
tion of  the  white  rags  of  cloud  clinging  to  the  hillsides ;  and 
occasionally,  as  they  got  up  into  the  higher  country,  he  would 
lie  down  with  his  back  on  a  convenient  mound,  cross  one  knee 
over  the  other,  and,  with  this  rest  for  his  telescope,  proceed  to 
scrutinize,  inch  by  inch,  the  vast  prospect  before  him.  There 
was  no  more  talking  now.  There  w^as  a  kind  of  stealthiness  in 
their  progress,  even  when  they  walked  erect ;  but  it  soon  ap- 
peared to  Lionel  that  Roderick,  who  went  first,  seemed  to  be 
keeping  a  series  of  natural  eminences  between  them  and  a  cer- 
tain distant  tract  of  this  silent  and  lonely  land.  It  was  only  a 
guess ;  but  it  accounted  for  all  kinds  of  circuitous  little  turns ; 
anyhow,  there  was  nothing  for  him  but  to  follow  blindly  whither 
he  was  led.  Of  course  he  kept  his  eyes  open  ;  but  there  was  no 
sign  of  life  anywhere  in  this  barren  wilderness  ;  there  was  noth- 
ing but  th6  empty  undulations  of  heath  and  thick  grass,  with 
sometimes  a  little  tarn  coming  in  sight,  and  always  the  farther 
hills  forming  a  sort  of  solitary  amphitheatre  along  the  horizon. 

Suddenly  Roderick  stopped  short,  and  quietly  put  out  his  hand 
to  arrest  the  progress  of  his  companions.  Involuntarily  they 
stooped ;  and  he  not  only  did  likewise,  but  presently  he  was  on 
his  back  on  the  heather,  with  the  telescope  balanced  as  before. 
After  a  long  and  earnest  scrutiny,  he  offered  the  glass  to  Lionel. 

"  They're  there,"  he  said,  "  but  in  an  ahfu'  bad  place  for  us," 

Eagerly  Lionel  got  hold  of  the  telescope  and  tried  to  balance 
it  as  the  keeper  had  done ;  but  either  his  hand  was  trembling, 
or  the  wind  had  a  purchase  on  the  long  tube,  or  he  was  unaccus- 
tom.ed  to  its  use ;  at  all  events  he  could  make  out  nothing  but 
nebulous  and  uncertain  patches  of  color. 


148  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  Tell  me  where  they  are,"  he  said,  quickly,  as  he  put  aside 
the  glass.     "  I  have  good  eyes." 

"  Do  you  see  the  gray  scar  on  the  hillside  yonder  ? — then  right 
below  that  the  rocks — and  then  the  open  place — can  you  see 
them  now  ?     Ay,  and  there's  not  a  single  hind  with  them — " 

"They're  all  stags?"  exclaimed  Lionel,  breathlessly. 

"Every  one,"  said  Roderick.  "And  when  there's  no  hinds 
with  them,  it  is  easier  to  get  at  them,  for  they're  not  near  so  wary 
as  the  hinds  ;  but  that  is  a  bad  place  where  they  are  feeding  the 
now — a  terrible  bad  place.  I'm  thinking  it  is  no  use  to  try  to 
get  near  them  there ;  but  they  will  keep  feeding  on  and  on  until 
they  get  over  the  ridge ;  and  what  we  will  do  now  is  we  will 
chist  go  aweh  down  wind,  and  get  round  to  them  from  anither 
airt." 

It  was  little  that  Lionel  knew  what  was  involved  in  this  ap- 
parently simple  scheme.  At  first  everything  was  easy  enough  ; 
for,  when  they  had  fallen  back  out  of  sight  of  the  deer,  they 
merely  set  forth  upon  a  long  walk  down  wind,  going  erect,  with- 
out any  trouble.  It  is  true  that  Lionel  in  time  began  to  think 
that  the  keeper,  instead  of  having  the  deer  in  mind,  was  bent  on 
a  pilgrimage  into  Cromarty  or  Sutherland,  or  perhaps  towards 
the  shores  of  the  Atlantic ;  but  this  interminable  tramp  was  a 
mere  trifle  compared  with  their  labors  when  they  began  to  go  up 
wind  again.  For  now  there  was  nothing  but  stooping  and  crawl- 
ing and  slouching  behind  hillocks,  up  peat-hags,  and  through 
marshy  swamps;  while  the  heat  produced  by  all  this  painful 
toil  was  liable  to  a  sudden  chill  whenever  a  halt  was  called  to 
enable  Roderick  to  writhe  his  prostrate  figure  up  to  the  top  of 
some  slight  eminence,  where,  raising  his  head  inch  by  inch,  he 
once  more  informed  himself  of  the  whereabouts  of  the  deer. 
There  seemed  to  be  no  end  to  this  snake-like  squirming  along 
the  ground  and  creeping  behind  rocks  and  hillocks  ;  in  fact,  they 
were  now  in  a  quite  different  tract  of  country  from  that  in  which 
they  had  first  caught  sight  of  the  stags — a  much  more  wild  and 
sombre  landscape  was  this,  with  precipitous  black  crags  over- 
hanging a  sullen  and  solitary  loch  that  had  not  a  bush  or  a  tree 
along  its  lifeless  shores.  As  for  Lionel,  he  fought  along  without 
repining.  His  arms  were  soaking  wet  up  to  the  elbows ;  his 
legs  were  in  a  like  condition  from  the  knee  downward.  Then 
he  was  damp  with  perspiration;  while  ever  and  anon,  when  he 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  149 

had  to  lie  prone  in  the  moist  grass,  or  crouch  like  a  frog  behind 
a  rock,  the  cold  wind  from  the  hills  sent  a  shiver  down  his  spine 
or  seemed  to  strike  like  an  icy  dagger  through  his  chest.  But 
he  took  it  all  as  part  of  the  day's  work.  There  was  in  his 
possession  a  little  silver  token  that  afforded  him  much  content. 
He  would  acquit  himself  like  a  man — if  he  could ;  at  any  rate, 
he  would  not  grumble. 

After  what  seemed  ages  of  this  inconceivable  torture,  Lionel 
was  immensely  relieved  to  find  the  keeper,  after  a  careful  sur- 
vey from  the  top  of  a  mound  to  which  he  had  crawled,  motion 
with  his  hand  to  him  to  come  up  to  his  side.  This  he  did  with 
the  greatest  circumspection,  scarcely  raising  his  head  above  the 
grass  and  heather ;  and  then,  when  he  had  joined  Roderick,  he 
began  to  peer  through  the  waving  stalks  and  twigs  just  before 
his  eyes.  Suddenly  his  gaze  was  arrested  by  certain  brown  tips 
— tips  that  were  moving;  were  these  the  stags'  horns, he  asked 
himself,  in  a  kind  of  bewilderment  of  fear  ?  There  could  be  no 
doubt  of  it.  The  beasts  were  now  lying  down — he  could  not 
see  their  bodies — but  clearly  enough  he  could  make  out  their 
branching  antlers,  as  they  lazily  moved  their  heads,  or  perhaps 
turned  to  flick  a  fly  away. 

"  They're  too  far  off,  aren't  they  ?"  Lionel  whispered — and, 
despite  all  his  sworn  resolves  to  keep  calm,  he  felt  his  heart  go- 
ing as  if  it  would  choke  him. 

"  They're  lying  down  now,"  Roderick  said,  with  professional 
coolness,  "  and  they're  right  out  in  the  open  ;  it  is  no  use  at  all 
trying  to  get  near  them  until  they  get  up  in  the  afternoon  anA 
begin  to  feed  again,  and  then  maybe  they  will  feed  over  the 
shoulder  yonder.  No  use  at  all,"  said  he  ;  but  just  at  this  mo- 
ment his  quick  eye  caught  sight  of  something  else  that  had  just 
appeared  on  the  edge  of  one  of  the  lower  slopes,  and  the  expres- 
sion of  his  face  instantly  changed — into  something  like  alarm. 
"  Bless  me,  look  at  that  now  !" 

Lionel  slowly  and  cautiously  turned  his  head ;  and  then,  quite 
clearly,  he  could  see  a  small  company  of  seven  or  eight  stags 
that  had  come  along  from  quite  a  different  direction.  They 
paused  at  the  crest  of  the  slope,  looking  all  about  them. 

"  Was  ever  anything  so  mischievous  ?"  Roderick  exclaimed,  in 
smothered  vexation.  "  If  they  come  over  this  way  they  will 
get  our  wind  ;  and  then  it  is  good-bye  to  all  of  them.     And  we 


150  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

cannot  get  away  neither — well,  well,  was  there  ever  the  like  now  ? 
There  is  only  the  one  chance — mebbe  they  will  go  along  to  the 
others,  and  keep  with  them  till  they  begin  feeding  in  the  after- 
noon. Indeed,  now,  it  is  a  terrible  peety  if  we  are  to  miss  such 
a  chance — and  not  a  hind  anywhere  to  be  on  the  watch !" 

Happily,  however,  Roderick's  immediate  fears  were  soon  dis- 
pelled. The  new-comers  slowly  descended  the  slope  ;  then  they 
bore  up  the  valley  again ;  and  after  walking  about  awhile,  they 
followed  the  example  of  the  rest  of  the  herd  and  lay  down  on 
the  heather. 

"  Ay,  ay,  that  is  better  now,"  Roderick  said,  with  much  satis- 
faction. "  That  is  ferry  well  now.  And  since  there  is  nothing 
to  be  done  till  the  whole  of  them  get  up  to  feed  in  the  after- 
noon, we  will  chist  creep  aweh  into  a  peat-hag  and  wait  there, 
and  you  can  have  your  lunch,  sir." 

So  there  was  another  crawling  performance  down  from  this 
exposed  height;  and  eventually  the  small  party  managed  to 
hide  themselves  in  a  black  and  moist  peat-hag,  where  their  ex- 
tremely frugal  repast  was  produced. 

"  But  look  here,  Roderick,"  Lionel  said,  "  it's  only  twelve 
o'clock  now ;  do  you  mean  to  say  we  have  to  stop  in  this  wet 
hole  till  two  or  three  in  the  afternoon  ?" 

"Ay,  chist  that,"  the  keeper  said,  coolly.  "They  will  begin 
to  feed  about  three ;  and  until  they  go  over  the  ridge,  it  is  no 
use  at  all  trying  to  get  near  them." 

"  And  what  are  we  to  do  all  the  time  ?" 

"  Chist  wait,"  Roderick  said,  with  much  simplicity  ;  and  then 
he  and  the  gillie  withdrew  a  little  way  down  the  peat-hag,  so 
that  they  might  have  their  luncheon  and  a  cautious  whispering 
in  Gaelic  by  themselves. 

It  was  tantalizing  in  the  last  degree.  The  breathless  con- 
sciousness that  the  deer  were  close  by  made  him  all  the  more 
impatient  for  the  half-dreaded  opportunity  of  having  a  shot  at 
one  of  them.  He  wished  it  was  well  over.  If  he  were  going  to 
miss,  he  wanted  to  have  his  agony  of  mortification  encountered 
and  done  with,  instead  of  enduring  this  maddening  delay.  The 
peat-hag  became  a  prison  ;  and  a  very  uncomfortable  prison,  too. 
His  sandwiches  were  soon  disposed  of  ;  thereafter — what?  He 
dared  not  smoke ;  he  had  no  book  with  him ;  the  keeper  and 
the  gillie,  having  withdrawn  themselves,  were  exchanging  confi- 


PRINCE    F0RTUNATU8.  161 

dences  in  their  native  tongue.  His  clothes  were  wet  and  cold 
and  clammy ;  Percy  Lestrange's  flask  appeared  to  afford  him  no 
comfort  whatever.  And  of  course  the  longer  he  brooded  over 
the  chances  of  hit  or  miss,  the  more  appalling  became  the  re- 
sponsibility, llow  much  depended  on  that  fifteentli  part  of  a 
second  !  He  was  half  inclined  to  say,  "  Ilere,  Roderick,  I  can 
bear  this  anxiety  no  longer.  Let  us  get  as  near  the  deer  as  we 
can  ;  sight  the  rifle  for  a  long  distance,  you  whistle  the  stags  on 
to  their  legs — and  I'll  blaze  into  the  thick  of  them.  Anything 
to  get  the  shot  over  and  done  with  !" 

Indeed,  this  intolerable  waiting  was  about  as  bad  a  thing  as 
could  have  happened  to  his  nerves ;  but  it  did  not  last  quite  as 
long  as  the  keeper  had  anticipated ;  for  about  two  o'clock  Rod- 
erick ascertained  that  the  stags  were  up  again  and  feeding. 
This  was  good  news — anything  was  good  news,  in  fact,  that 
broke  in  upon  this  sickening  suspense  ;  had  Lionel  been  in- 
formed that  the  deer  had  taken  alarm  and  disappeared  at  full 
gallop,  he  would  have  said  "  Amen  !"  and  set  out  for  home  with 
a  light  heart.  But,  by  and  by,  when  it  was  discovered  that  the 
stags  had  gone  over  the  ridge — one  of  them  remained  on  the 
crest  for  a  long  time,  staring  right  across  the  valley,  so  that  the 
stalkers  dared  not  move  hand  or  foot — when  this  last  sentinel 
had  also  withdrawn,  the  slouching  and  skulking  devices  of  the 
morning  had  to  be  resumed.  Not  a  word  was  spoken  ;  but 
Lionel  knew  that  the  fateful  moment  was  approaching.  Then, 
when  they  began  to  ascend  the  ridge  over  which  the  stags  had 
disappeared,  their  progress  culminated  in  a  laborious  crawl,  Rod- 
erick going  first,  with  the  rifle  in  one  hand,  Lionel  dragging  him- 
self after,  Jthe  gillie  coming  on  as  best  he  might.  It  was  slow 
work  now.  The  keeper  went  forward  inch  by  inch,  as  if  at  any 
moment  he  expected  to  find  a  stag  staring  down  upon  him. 
And  at  last  he  lay  quite  still ;  then,  with  the  slightest  movement 
of  his  disengaged  hand,  he  beckoned  Lionel  to  come  up  beside 
him. 

Now  was  the  time  for  all  his  desperate  and  summoned  calm- 
ness. He  shut  his  lips  firm,  breathing  only  by  his  nose  ;  he 
gradually  pushed  his  way  through  the  tall,  withered  grass ;  and 
at  last,  when  he  was  almost  side  by  side  with  Roderick,  he 
peered  forward.  They  were  startlingly  near,  those  brown  and 
dun  beasts  with  the  branchino-  antlers ! — he  almost  shrank  back 


153  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

— and  yet  he  gazed  and  gazed  with  a  strange  fascination.  The 
stags,  wliich  were  not  more  than  fifty  or  sixty  yards  off,  were 
quite  unconscious  of  any  danger;  they  were  quietly  feeding; 
sometimes  one  of  them  would  cease  and  raise  his  head  and  look 
lazily  around.  Just  at  this  moment,  too,  a  pale  sunlight  began  to 
shine  over  the  plateau  on  which  they  stood ;  and  a  very  pretty 
picture  it  lit  up — the  silver-gray  rocks,  the  wide  heath,  and  those 
slim  and  elegant  creatures  grouped  here  and  there  as  chance  di- 
rected. Every  single  feature  of  the  scene  (as  he  discovered 
long  thereafter)  was  burned  into  Lionel's  brain ;  yet  he  was  not 
aware  of  it  at  the  time  ;  his  whole  attention,  as  he  imagined,  was 
directed  towards  keeping  himself  cool  and  restrained  and  ready 
to  obey  Roderick's  mute  directions.  The  rifle  was  stealthily 
given  to  him,  and  as  stealthily  pushed  through  the  grass.  With 
his  fore-finger  the  keeper  indicated  the  stag  at  which  Lionel 
was  to  fire ;  it  was  rather  lighter  in  color  than  the  others,  and 
was  standing  a  little  way  apart.  Lionel  took  time  to  consider, 
as  he  thought ;  in  reality  it  was  to  still  the  quick  pulsation  of 
his  heart ;  and  as  he  did  so  the  stag,  unfortunately  for  him, 
moved,  so  that,  instead  of  offering  him  an  easy  broadside  shot, 
it  almost  faced  him,  with  its  head  down.  Still,  at  any  moment 
it  might  afford  a  fairer  mark ;  and  so,  with  the  utmost  caution, 
and  with  liis  lips  still  shut  tight,  he  slowly  raised  himself  some- 
what, and  got  the  rifle  into  his  hands.  Yes,  the  stag  had  again 
moved ;  its  shoulder  was  exposed ;  his  eyes  inquired  of  Roder- 
ick if  now  was  the  time  ;  and  the  keeper  nodded  assent. 

The  awful  crisis  had  arrived  ;  and  he  seemed  to  blind  him- 
self and  deaden  himself  to  all  things  in  this  mortal  world  except 
the  little  notch  in  the  rifle,  the  shining  sight,  and  that  fawn-col- 
ored object  over  there.  He  took  a  long  breath ;  he  steadied 
and  steadied  the  slightly  trembling  barrel  until  it  appeared  per- 
fectly motionless  ;  and  then — he  fired  ! 

Alas  !  at  the  very  moment  that  he  pulled  the  trigger — wlien 
it  was  too  late  for  him  to  change  his  purpose — the  stag  threw 
up  its  head  to  flick  at  its  side  with  its  horns,  and  thus  quite 
altered  its  position  ;  he  knew  he  ought  not  to  fire-;-but  it  was 
too  late — too  late — and  in  the  very  act  of  i)ulling  tlic  trigger  he 
felt  that  he  had  missed. 

Roderick  sprang  to  his  feet ;  for  the  deer,  notwithstanding  that 
they  could  not  have  discerned  where  the  danger  lay,  with  one 


i 


ha. 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  153 

consent  bounded  forward  and  made  for  a  rocky  defile  on  the 
farther  side  of  the  plateau. 

"  Come  on,  sir !  Come  on,  sir !"  the  keeper  called  to  Lionel. 
"  You've  hit  hira.     Come  along,  sir  !" 

"  I  haven't  hit  hira — I  missed — missed  clean  !"  was  the  hope- 
less answer. 

"  I  tell  ye  ye've  hit  him  !"  the  keeper  exclaimed.  "  Run,  sir, 
run  ! — if  he's  only  wounded  he  may  need  the  other  barrel.  God 
bless  me,  did  ye  not  hear  the  thud  when  the  ball  struck  V 

Thus  admonished  Lionel  unwittingly,  but  nevertheless  as 
quickly  as  he  could,  followed  the  keeper ;  and  he  could  show  a 
nimble  pair  of  heels  when  he  chose,  even  when  he  was  hampered 
with  this  heavy  rifle.  Not  that  he  had  any  heart  in  the  chase. 
The  stag  had  swerved  aside  just  as  he  fired ;  he  knew  he  must 
have  missed.  At  the  same  time  any  one  who  goes  out  with  a 
professional  stalker  must  be  content  to  become  as  clay  in  the 
hands  of  the  potter ;  so  Lionel  did  as  he  was  bid ;  and  though 
he  could  not  overtake  Roderick,  he  was  not  far  behind  him 
when  they  both  reached  the  pass  down  which  the  deer  had  fled. 

And  there  the  splendid  animals  were  still  in  view — bounding 
up  a  stony  hillside  some  distance  off,  in  straggling  twos  and 
threes,  and  going  at  a  prodigious  speed.  But  where  was  the 
light-colored  stag  ?  Certainly  not  among  those  brown  beasts 
whose  scrambling  up  that  steep  face  was  sending  a  shower  of 
stones  and  debris  down  into  the  silent  glen  below. 

"  I'm  thinking  he's  no  far  aweh,"  Roderick  said,  eagerly  scan- 
ning all  the  ground  in  front  of  them.  "  We'll  chist  go  forrit, 
sir ;  and  you'll  be  ready  to  shoot,  for,  if  he's  only  wounded,  he 
may  be  up  and  off  again  when  he  sees  us." 

"  But  do  you  really  think  1  hit  hira  ?"  Lionel  said,  anxiously 
enough. 

"  I  sah  him  struck,"  the  keeper  said,  emphatically.  "  But  he 
never  dropped — no,  not  once  on  his  knees  even.  He  was  off 
with  the  best  of  them ;  and  that's  what  meks  me  think  he  was 
well  hit,  and  that  he's  no  far  aweh." 

So  they  went  forward  on  the  track  of  the  herd,  slowly,  and 
searching  every  dip  and  hollow.  For  Lionel  it  was  a  period  of 
agonizing  uncertainty.  One  moment  he  would  buoy  himself  up 
with  the  assurance  that  the  keeper  must  know ;  the  rest  he  con- 
vinced himself  that  he  had  missed  the  stag  clean.  Now  he 
7* 


154  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

would  be  wondering  whether  this  wide,  undulating  plain  really 
contained  the  slain  monarch  of  the  mists ;  again  he  pictured  to 
himself  that  light-colored,  fleet-footed  creature  far  away  in  ad- 
vance of  all  his  companions,  making  for  some  distant  sanctuary 
among  the  mountains. 

"  Here  he  is,  sir  !"  Roderick  cried,  with  a  quick  little  chuckle  ; 
and  the  words  sent  a  thrill  through  Lionel  such  as  he  had  never 
experienced  in  his  life  before.  "  No — he's  quite  dead,"  the 
keeper  continued,  seeing  that  the  younger  man  was  making  ready 
te  raise  his  rifle  again,  "  I  was  thinking  he  was  well  hit — and 
no  far  aweh." 

At  the  same  moment  Lionel  had  eagerly  run  forward.  With 
what  joy  and  pride — with  what  a  curious  sense  of  elation — 
with  what  a  disposition  of  good-will  towards  all  the  world — he 
now  beheld  this  splendid  beast  lying  in  the  deep  peat-hag  that 
had  hitherto  hidden  it  from  view.  The  stag's  last  effort  had 
been  to  clear  this  gully ;  but  it  had  only  managed  to  strike  the 
opposite  bank  with  its  forefeet  when  the  death-wound  did  its 
work,  and  then  the  hapless  animal  had  rolled  back  with  its  final 
groan  into  the  position  in  which  they  now  found  it.  In  a 
second,  Roderick  was  down  in  the  peat-hag  beside  it,  hold- 
ing up  its  head  by  one  of  the  horns,  and  examining  the  bullet- 
mark. 

"  Well,  sir,"  said  he,  with  a  humorous  smile  that  did  not  often 
lighten  up  his  visage,  "  if  this  is  what  you  will  be  calling  the 
missing  of  a  stag,  it  is  a  ferry  good  way  to  miss  it;  for  I  never 
sah  a  better  shot  in  my  life." 

"  It's  a  fluke,  then,  Roderick ;  I  declare  to  you  I  was  certain 
I  had  missed,"  said  he — though  he  hardly  knew  what  he  was 
saying  ;  a  kind  of  bewilderment  of  joy  possessed  him — he  could 
not  keep  his  eyes  off  the  dead  stag — and  now,  if  he  had  only 
chanced  to  notice  it,  his  hand  was  certainly  trembling.  Prob- 
ably Roderick  did  not  know  what  a  fluke  was ;  in  any  case  his 
response  was : 

"  Well,  sir,  I'm  chist  going  to  drink  your  good  health ;  ay, 
and  more  good  luck  to  you,  sir ;  and  it's  ferry  glad  I  am  that 
you  hef  got  your  first  stag !"  and  therewith  he  pulled  out  his 
small  zinc  flask. 

"  Oh,  but  you  mustn't  draw  on  your  own  supplies !"  Lionel 
exclaimed,  in  the  fulness  of  his  pride  and  gratitude.     "  See,  here 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  155 

is  a  flask  filled  with  famous  stuff.  You  take  it — you  and  Alec ; 
I  don't  want  any  more  to-day." 

"  Do  not  be  so  sure  of  that,"  the  keeper  said,  shrewdly,  and 
he  modestly  declined  to  take  Percy  Lestrange's  decorated  tlask. 
"  It's  a  long  walk  from  home  we  are  ;  far  longer  than  you  think  ; 
and  mebbe  there  will  be  some  showers  before  we  get  back  home." 

"  I  don't  care  if  there's  thunder  and  lightning  all  the  way  !" 
Lionel  cried,  gayly.  "  But  I'll  tell  you  what,  Roderick,  I  wish 
you'd  lend  rae  your  pipe.  Have  you  plenty  of  tobacco  ?  A 
cigarette  is  too  feeble  a  thing  to  smoke  by  the  side  of  a  dead 
stag.  And — and  on  my  way  south  I  mean  to  stop  at  Inverness, 
and  I'll  send  you  as  much  tobacco  as  will  last  you  right  through 
the  winter ;  for  you  see  I'm  very  proud  of  my  first  stag — and, 
of  course,  it  was  all  owing  to  your  skill  in  stalking." 

Roderick  handed  the  young  man  his  pipe  and  pouch. 

"  Indeed,  you  could  not  do  better,  sir,  than  sit  down  and  hef 
a  smoke,  while  me  and  Alec  are  gralloching  the  beast.  Then 
we'll  drag  him  to  a  safe  place,  and  cover  him  up  with  heather, 
and  send  for  him  the  morn's  morning." 

"  Couldn't  you  put  him  on  the  pony  and  take  him  down  with 
us  ?  I  can  walk,"  Lionel  suggested ;  for  had  he  not  some  dim 
vision  in  his  mind  of  a  triumphal  procession  down  the  strath, 
towards  the  dusk  of  the  evening,  with  perhaps  a  group  of  fair 
spectators  awaiting  him  at  the  door  of  the  lodge  ? 

"  Well,  sir,"  the  keeper  made  answer,  as  he  drew  out  his  gral- 
loching knife,  "  you  see,  there's  few  things  more  diflBcult  than 
to  strap  a  deer  on  the  back  of  a  powny  when  there's  no  proper 
deer-saddle.  No,  sir,  we'll  just  leave  him  in  a  safe  place  for 
the  night  and  send  for  him  in  the  morning." 

"  And  do  you  call  that  a  good  head  to  get  stuJBfed^ Roderick  ?" 
the  young  man  asked,  still  gazing  on  his  splendid  prize. 

"  Aw,  well,  I  hef  seen  better  heads,  and  I  hef  seen  worse 
heads,"  the  keeper  said,  evasively.  "  But  the  velvet  is  off  the 
horns  whatever." 

This  was  tremendously  strong  tobacco  that  Roderick  had 
handed  him,  and  yet,  as  it  seemed  to  him,  he  had  never  smelt 
a  sweeter  fragrance  perfuming  the  soft  mountain  air.  Nor  did 
these  appear  grim  and  awful  solitudes  any  longer;  they  were 
friendly  solitudes,  rather ;  as  he  sat  and  peacefully  and  joyously 
smoked,  he   studied  ev^ery   feature    of   them  —  each   rock    and 


156  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

swamp  and  barren  slope,  every  hill  and  corrie  and  misty  moun- 
tain-top ;  and  he  knew  that  while  life  remained  to  him  he  would 
never  forget  this  memorable  scene — with  the  slain  stag  in  the 
foreground.  No,  nor  how  could  he  ever  forget  that  wan  glare 
of  sunlight  that  had  come  along  the  plateau  where  the  deer  were 
quietly  feeding  ? — he  seemed  to  see  again  each  individual  blade 
of  grass  close  to  his  face,  as  well  as  the  noble  quarry  that  had 
held  him  breathless.  And  then  he  took  out  the  bright  little 
coin ;  surely  Ilonnor  Cunyngham  could  not  object  to  his  wear- 
ing it,  seeing  that  it  had  proved  itself  such  a  potent  charm  ?  He 
rejoiced  that  he  had  not  been  frightened  off  his  expedition  by 
tales  of  its  monotonous  sufferings  and  dire  fatigues.  This  was 
something  better  than  arranging  an  out-of-door  performance  for 
a  parcel  of  amateurs  !  Stiff  and  sore  he  was,  his  clothes  were 
mostly  soaked  and  caked  with  mire,  and  he  did  not  know  what 
he  had  not  done  to  his  shins  and  knees  and  elbows ;  but  he  did 
not  mind  all  that ;  Honnor  Cunyngham  was  right — as  he  rode 
down  Strathaivron  that  evening  towards  the  lodge,  it  would  not 
be  of  fatigues  and  privations  he  would  be  thinking !  it  would 
be  of  the  lordly  stag  left  away  up  there  in  the  hills,  to  be  sent 
for  and  brought  down  in  triumph  the  next  day. 

By  the  time  they  had  got  the  stag  conveyed  to  a  place  of 
concealment,  and  carefully  covered  over  with  heather,  the  after- 
noon was  well  advanced ;  then  they  set  out  for  the  little  corrie 
in  which  the  pony  had  been  left.  But  Lionel  was  now  to  dis- 
cover that  they  had  come  much  farther  into  these  wilds  than  he 
had  imagined  ;  indeed,  when  they  at  length  came  upon  the  stolid 
and  unconcerned  Maggie,  he  did  not  in  the  least  regret  that  it 
was  a  riding-saddle,  not  a  deer-saddle,  they  had  brought  with 
them  in  the  morning.  He  had  offered  to  walk  these  remaining 
eight  miles  in  order  to  have  the  proud  satisfaction  of  taking  the 
stag  home  with  tliem  ;  now  he  was  just  as  well  content  that  it 
was  he,  and  not  the  slain  deer,  that  Maggie  was  to  carry  down 
to  Strathaivron.  So  he  lit  another  cigarette,  got  into  the  sad- 
dle, and  with  a  light  heart  set  forth  upon  the  long  and  tedious 
jog-jog  down  towards  the  region  of  comparative  civilization. 

Yet  it  was  hardly  so  tedious,  after  all.  He  was  mentally  going 
over  again  and  again  every  point  and  incident  of  the  day's  thrill- 
ing experiences  ;  and  now  it  seemed  as  if  it  were  a  long  time 
since  he  had  been  squirming  through  the  heather,  with  all  his 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  157 

limbs  aching,  and  his  heart  ready  to  burst.  He  recalled  that 
beautiful  picture  of  the  stags  feeding  on  the  lonely  plateau  ;  he 
wondered  now  that  he  was  able  to  steady  the  rifle-barrel  until  it 
ceased  to  be  tremulous;  he  asked  himself  whether  he  had  not 
in  reality  pulled  the  trigger  just  before  the  stag  swerved  its  head 
aside.  And  what  would  have  been  his  feelings  now,  supposing 
he  had  missed  ?  Riding  home  in  silence  and  dejection — trying 
to  account  for  the  incomprehensible  blunder — fearing  to  think 
of  what  he  would  have  to  say  to  the  people  at  the  lodge.  And 
he  was  not  at  all  sorry  to  reflect  that,  as  soon  as  the  little  party 
got  back  home.  Miss  Honnor  Cunyngham  should  see  for  herself 
that  he,  a  mere  singer  out  of  comedy-opera,  was  not  afraid  to 
face  the  hardships  that  had  proved  too  much  for  Lord  Rock- 
minster — yes,  and  that  he  had  faced  them  to  some  purpose. 

Very  friendly  sounded  the  voice  of  the  Geinig,  when  it  first 
struck  upon  his  ear ;  they  were  getting  into  a  recognizable  neigh- 
borhood now  ;  here  were  familiar  features — not  a  waste  of  the 
awful  and  unknown.  But  it  was  too  much  to  expect  that  Miss 
Cunyngham  should  still  be  lingering  by  any  of  those  pools ;  the 
evening  was  closing  in  ;  she  must  have  set  out  for  home  long 
ago,  fishing  her  way  down  as  she  went.  They  passed  a  shep- 
herd's solitary  cottage ;  the  old  man  came  out  to  hear  the  news 
— which  was  told  him  in  Gaelic.  They  reached  the  banks  of 
the  Aivron,  and  trudged  along  under  the  tall  cliffs  and  through 
the  scattered  birch  and  hazel.  Then  came  the  fording  of  the 
river — the  tramp  along  the  other  side — the  return  ford — and 
the  small  home-going  party  was  reunited  again.  They  skirted 
the  glassy  sweeps  of  the  Long  Pool,  the  darker  swirls  of  the 
Small  Pool,  and  the  saffron-tinted  masses  of  foam  hurling  down 
between  the  borders  of  the  Rock  Pool  ;  and  then  at  last  they 
came  in  view  of  the  spacious  valley,  and  far  away  in  the  midst 
of  it  Strathaivron  Lodge. 

Had  they  been  coming  back  with  bad  news  this  might  have 
been  rather  a  melancholy  sight,  perhaps — the  long,  wide  strath 
with  the  wan  shades  of  twilight  stealing  over  the  meadows  and 
the  woods  and  the  winding  river ;  but  now  (to  Lionel  at  least) 
it  was  nothing  but  beautiful.  If  the  glen  itself  looked  ghostly 
and  hfeless  and  colorless,  there  were  warmer  hues  overhead  ; 
for  a  pale  salmon-flush  still  suffused  the  sky ;  and  where  that 
half-crimson  glow,  just  over  the  dark,  heather-stained  hill,  faded 


158  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS, 

into  an  exquisite  transparent  lilac,  tliere  hung  a  full  moon — a 
moon  of  the  lightest  and  clearest  gold,  with  its  mysterious  con- 
tinents appearing  as  faint  gray  films.  The  prevailing  peace 
seemed  to  grow  more  profound  with  the  coming  of  the  night. 
But  this  was  not  a  night  to  be  feared — this  was  a  night  to  be 
welcomed — a  night  with  that  fair  golden  moon  hanging  high  in 
the  heavens,  the  mistress  and  guardian  of  the  silent  vale. 

When  Lionel  rode  up  to  the  door  of  the  lodge,  he  found  all 
the  gentlemen  of  the  house  congregated  there  and  dressed  for 
dinner.     Sir  Hugh  held  up  his  hand. 

"  No,  not  one  word  !"  he  cried.  "  Not  necessary.  I  can 
always  tell.     It  is  written  in  every  line  of  your  face." 

"  It  isn't  a  hind,  is  it  ?"  inquired  Lord  Rockminster,  doubt- 

fully. 

"  A  hind  of  ten  points !"  Lionel  said,  with  a  laugh,  as  he 
pushed  his  way  through.  "  Well,  I  must  see  if  I  can  have  a 
hot  bath  to  soften  my  bones." 

"  My  good  fellow,  it's  waiting  for  you,"  his  host  said.  "  I 
told  Jeffreys  the  moment  I  saw  you  coming  down  the  strath. 
We'll  put  back  dinner  a  bit ;  but  be  as  quick  as  you  can," 

At  the  same  moment  there  appeared  a  white-draped  figure  on 
the  landing  above,  leaning  over  the  balustrade. 

"  What  have  you  done,  Mr.  Moore  ?"  called  down  the  well- 
known  voice  of  Honnor  Cunyngham. 

"  I've  got  a  stag,"  he  said,  looking  up  with  a  good  deal  of 
satisfaction — or  gratitude,  perhaps  ? — in  his  eyes. 

"  How  many  points  ?" 

"  Ten." 

"  Well  done  !    Didn't  I  tell  you  you  would  get  a  stag  ?" 

"  It's  all  owing  to  the  lucky  sixpence  you  gave  me,"  he  said  ; 
and  she  laughed,  as  she  turned  away  to  go  to  her  room. 

After  a  welcome  bath  he  dressed  as  quickly  as  he  could  for 
dinner — dressed  so  quickly,  indeed,  that  he  thought  he  was  en- 
titled to  glance  at  the  outside  of  the  pile  of  letters  awaiting  him 
there  on  the  mantelpiece.  He  had  a  large  correspondence,  from 
all  kinds  of  people ;  and  when  he  was  in  a  hurry  this  brief  scru- 
tiny of  the  address  was  all  he  allowed  himself ;  he  usually  could 
tell  if  there  was  anything  of  unusual  importance.  On  tlie  pres- 
ent occasion  the  only  handwriting  that  arrested  him  for  a  second 
was    Nina's;    and  some  sort  of   half-understood   compunction 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  15y 

made  him  open  her  letter.  Well,  it  was  not  a  letter ;  it  was 
merely  a  little  printed  form,  such  as  is  put  about  the  stalls  and 
boxes  of  a  theatre  when  an  announcement  has  to  be  made.  This 
announcement  read  as  follows : 

"  Notice  :  In  consequence  of  the  sudden  indisposition  of  Miss  Burooyne, 
the  part  of  'Grace  Muinwaiing'  will  be  sustained  this  evening  by  Miss  An- 
ton ia  Ross  " 

— while  above  these  printed  words  Nina  had  written,  in  a  rather 
trembling  hand  :  "  xih,  Leo,  if  you  were  only  here  to-night  /"  Ap- 
parently she  had  scribbled  this  brief  message  before  the  per- 
formance ;  perhaps  haste  or  nervousness  might  account  for  the 
uncertain  writing.  So  Nina  was  to  have  her  great  opportunity 
after  all,  he  said  to  himself,  as  he  went  joyfully  down-stairs  to 
join  the  brilliant  assemblage  in  the  drawing-room.  Poor  Nina! 
— he  had  of  late  almost  forgotten  her  existence. 


CHAPTER   X. 

AIVRON    AND    GEINIG. 


HoNNOR  CuNYNGHAM  was  quitc  as  proud  as  Lionel  himself 
that  he  had  killed  a  stag ;  for  in  a  measure  he  was  her  pupil ; 
at  all  events  it  was  at  her  instigation  that  he  was  devoting  him- 
self to  these  athletic  sports  and  pastimes,  and  so  far  withdraw- 
ing himself  from  the  trivialities  and  affectations  of  the  serious 
little  band  of  amateurs.  Not  that  Miss  Cunyngham  ever  exhib- 
ited any  disdain  for  those  pursuits  of  her  gifted  sisters-in-law ; 
no  ;  she  listened  to  Lady  Sybil's  music,  and  regarded  Lady  Rosa- 
mund's canvases,  and  even  read  the  last  MS.  chapter  of  Lady 
Adela's  new  novel  (for  that  great  work  was  now  in  progress) 
with  a  grave  good-humor  and  even  with  a  kind  of  benevolence ; 
and  it  was  only  when  one  or  the  other  of  them,  with  unconscious 
simplicity,  named  herself  in  conjunction  with  some  master  of 
the  art  she  was  professing — wondering  how  he  could  do  sucli 
and  such  a  thing  in  such  and  such  a  fashion  when  she  found 
another  method  infinitely  preferable — it  was  only  at  such  mo- 
ments that  occasionally  Ilonnor  Cunyngham's  clear  hazel  eyes 
would  meet  Lionel's,  and  the  question  they  obviously  asked  was 
"  Is  not  that  extraordinary  ?"   They  did  not  ask  "  Is  not  that  ab-r 


XGO  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

surd  ?"  or  "  How  can  any  one  be  so  innocently  and  inordinately 
vain  ?"  they  only  expressed  a  friendly  surprise,  with  perhaps  the 
smallest  trace  of  demure  amusement. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  Miss  Cunyngham  rather  intimated  to 
this  young  guest  and  stranger  that,  being  at  a  shooting-lodge  in 
the  Highlands,  he  ought  to  devote  himself  to  the  healthful 
and  vigorous  recreations  of  the  place,  instead  of  dawdling  away 
his  time  in  drawing-room  frivolities,  it  was  not  that  she  herself 
should  take  possession  of  him  as  her  comrade  on  her  salmon- 
fishing  excursions.  He  soon  discovered  that  he  was  not  to  have 
any  great  encouragement  in  this  direction.  She  was  always  very 
kind  to  him,  no  doubt ;  and  she  had  certainly  proposed  that,  if 
he  cared  to  go  with  her,  he  could  take  the  wading  portions  of 
the  pools ;  but  beyond  that  she  extended  to  him  very  little  com- 
panionship, except  what  he  made  bold  to  claim.  And  the  fact 
is,  he  was  rather  piqued  by  the  curious  isolation  in  which  this 
young  lady  appeared  to  hold  herself.  She  seemed  so  entirely 
content  with  herself,  so  wholly  indifferent  to  the  little  atten- 
tions and  flatteries  of  ordinary  life,  always  good-natured  when 
in  the  society  of  any  one,  she  was  just  as  satisfied  to  be  left 
alone.  Now,  Lionel  Moore  had  not  been  used  to  this  kind  of 
treatment.  Women  had  been  only  too  ready  to  smile  when  he 
approached  ;  perhaps,  indeed,  familiar  success  had  rendered  him 
callous ;  at  all  events,  he  had  managed  to  get  along  so  far  with- 
out encountering  any  violent  experience  of  heart-aching  desire 
and  disappointment  and  despair.  But  this  young  lady,  with  the 
clear,  fine,  intellectual  face,  the  proud  lips,  the  calm,  observant 
eyes,  puzzled  him — almost  vexed  him.  Nina,  for  example,  was 
a  far  more  sympathetic  companion ;  either  she  was  enthusiasti- 
cally happy,  talkative,  vivacious,  gay  as  a  lark,  or  she  was  wilfully 
sullen  and  offended,  to  be  coaxed  round  again  and  petted,  like 
a  spoiled  child,  until  the  natural  sunshine  of  her  humor  came 
through  those  wayward  clouds.  But  Miss  Cunyngham,  while 
always  friendly  and  pleasant,  remained  (as  he  thought)  strangely 
remote,  imperturbable,  calm.  She  did  not  seem  to  care  about 
his  society  at  all.  Perhaps  she  would  rather  have  him  go  up 
the  hill? — though  the  birds  were  getting  very  wild  now  for  a 
novice.  In  any  case,  she  could  not  refuse  to  let  him  accompany 
lier  on  the  morning  after  his  deer-stalking  expedition ;  for  all 
the  story  had  to  be  told  her. 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  161 

"  I  suppose  you  are  very  stiff,"  she  said,  cheerfully,  as  they 
left  the  lodge — he  walking  heavily  in  waders  and  brogues — old 
Robert  coming  up  behind  with  rod  and  gaff.  "  But  I  should 
imagine  you  do  not  ask  for  much  sympathy.  Shall  I  tell  you 
what  you  are  thinking  of  at  this  moment?  You  have  a  vague 
fear  that  the  foxes  may  have  got  at  that  precious  animal  during 
the  night ;  and  you  are  anxious  to  see  it  safely  down  here  at  the 
lodge ;  and  you  want  to  have  the  head  sent  at  once  to  Mr.  Mac- 
leay's  in  Inverness,  so  that  it  mayn't  get  mixed  up  with  the  lot 
of  others  which  will  be  coming  in  when  the  driving  in  the  big 
forests  begins.     Isn't  that  about  it  ?" 

"  You  are  a  witch,"  said  he,  "  or  else  you  have  been  deer- 
stalking yourself.  But,  you  know.  Miss  Honnor,  it's  all  very 
well  to  go  on  an  expedition  like  that  of  yesterday  once  in  a  way 
— as  a  piece  of  bravado,  almost ;  and  no  doubt  you  are  very 
proud  when  you  see  the  dead  stag  lying  on  the  heather  before 
you  ;  but  I  am  not  sure  I  should  ever  care  for  it  as  a  continuous 
occupation,  even  if  I  were  likely  to  have  the  chance.  The  excite- 
ment is  too  furious,  too  violent.  But  look  at  a  day  by  the  side 
of  a  salmon  river !"  continued  this  adroit  young  man.  "  There 
is  absolute  rest  and  peace — except  when  you  are  engaged  in 
fighting  a  salmon  ;  and,  for  my  own  part,  that  is  not  necessary 
to  my  enjoyment  at  all.  No  ;  I  would  rather  see  you  fish  ;  then 
I  know  that  everything  is  going  right — that  every  pool  is  being 
properly  cast  over — that  Robert  is  satisfied.  And  in  the  mean- 
time I  can  sit  and  drink  in  all  the  beauty  of  the  scenery — the 
quietude — the  loneliness ;  that  is  a  real  change  for  me,  after  the 
busy  life  of  London.  I  have  got  to  be  great  friends  with  this 
river ;  I  seem  to  have  known  it  all  my  life ;  when  we  were  com- 
ing home  last  evening,  after  being  away  in  those  awful  solitudes, 
the  sound  of  the  Geinig  was  the  most  welcome  thing  I  ever  heard, 
I  think." 

"  It  is  to  the  Geinig  we  are  going  now,"  said  his  companion, 
who  appeared  quite  to  ignore  the  insidious  appeal  conveyed  in 
these  touching  sentiments.  "  I  promised  to  leave  all  the  Aivron 
pools  to  Mr.  Lestrange.  But  we  may  take  the  Junction  Pool, 
for  he  won't  have  time  to  come  beyond  the  Bad  Step ;  and,  by 
the  way,  Mr.  Moore,  if  you  feel  stiff  after  yesterday,  going  up 
and  down  the  Bad  Step  won't  do  you  any  harm." 

Well^  the  ascent  of  this  Bad  Step  (whether  so  named  from  the 


162  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

French  or  the  Gaelic  nobody  seemed  to  know)  was  not  so  diffi- 
cult, after  all,  for  it  was  gradual ;  and  a  brief  breathing-space  on 
the  summit  showed  them  the  far-stretching  landscape  terminat- 
ing in  the  wild  mountains  of  Assynt ;  but  the  sheer  descent  into 
the  gloomy  chasm  on  the  other  side  was  rather  an  awkward  thing 
for  any  one  encased  in  waders.  However,  Lionel  managed  some- 
how or  another  to  slide  and  scramble  down  this  zig-zag  track  on 
the  face  of  the  loose  debris ;  they  reached  the  bottom  in  safety 
and  crossed  the  burn ;  they  followed  a  more  secure  pathway  cut 
along  the  precipitous  slope  overlooking  the  Aivron  ;  then  they  got 
down  once  more  to  the  river-side,  and  found  themselves  walking 
over  velvet-soft  turf,  in  a  wood  of  thinly  scattered  birch  and  hazel. 
But  when  they  emerged  from  this  wood,  passed  along  by  some 
meadows,  and  reached  the  Junction  Pool  (so  called  from  the 
Geinig  and  Aivron  meeting  here),  they  found  that  the  sun  was 
much  too  bright ;  so  they  contentedly  seated  themselves  on  the 
bank  to  wait  for  a  cloud,  while  old  Robert  proceeded  to  consult 
his  fly-book.  Neither  of  them  seemed  in  a  very  talkative  mood ; 
indeed,  when  you  are  in  front  of  a  Highland  river,  with  its  swift- 
glancing  lights,  its  changing  glooms  and  gleams,  its  continual 
murmur  and  prattle,  what  need  is  there  of  any  talk  ?  Talk  only 
distracts  the  attention.  And  this  part  of  the  stream  was  espe- 
cially beautiful.  They  could  hardly  quarrel  with  the  sunlight 
when,  underneath  the  clear  water,  it  sent  interlacing  lines  of  gold 
chasina:  one  another  across  the  brown  sand  and  shingle  of  the 
shallows ;  and  if  the  cloudless  sky  overhead  compelled  this  un- 
willing idleness,  it  also  touched  each  of  those  dancing  ripples 
with  a  gleam  of  most  brilliant  blue.  Farther  out  those  scattered 
blue  gleams  became  concentrated  until  they  formed  glassy  sweeps 
of  intensest  azure  where  the  deep  pools  were ;  and  these  again 
gave  way  to  the  broken  water  under  the  opposite  bank,  where 
the  swift-running  current  reflected  the  golden-green  of  the  over- 
hanging bushes  and  weeds.  Where  was  the  call  for  any  speech 
between  these  two?  When,  at  length,  Robert  admonished  the 
young  man  to  get  ready,  because  a  cloud  was  coming  over,  and 
this  part  of  the  Aivron  had  to  be  waded,  Lionel  got  up  with  no 
great  good-will ;  that  silent  companionship,  in  the  gracious  still- 
ness and  soothing  murmur  of  the  stream,  seemed  to  him  to  be 
more  profitable  to  the  soul  than  the  lashing  of  a  wide  pool  with 
a  seventeen-foot  rod. 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  163 

But  he  buckled  to  his  task  like  a  man  ;  and  as  he  could  wade 
a  good  distance  in,  there  was  no  need  for  him  to  attempt  a  long 
line.  Surreptitiously,  on  many  occasions,  he  had  been  getting 
lessons  from  old  Robert ;  and  now,  if  his  casting  was  not  pro- 
fessional in  its  length,  it  was  at  least  clean.  Moreover,  by  this 
time  he  had  learned  that  the  expectant  moment  in  salmon-fishing 
is  not  when  the  fly  lights  away  over  at  the  other  side  and  be- 
gins to  sweep  round  in  a  semicircle,  but  when  it  drags  in  the 
current  before  it  is  withdrawn  ;  and  he  was  in  no  haste  in  recov- 
ering. 

"  Why,  Mr.  Moore,  you  are  casting  beautifully,"  Miss  Honnor 
Cunyngham  called  to  him ;  and  the  words  were  sweet  music  to 
his  ears,  for  it  may  be  frankly  admitted  that  this  somewhat  sen- 
sitive novice  was  playing  to  the  gallery.  His  diligent  and  care- 
ful thrashing,  however,  was  of  no  avail.  He  could  not  stir  any- 
thing ;  and  as  in  time  the  deepening  water  drove  him  ashore,  he 
willingly  surrendered  his  rod  to  his  fair  companion,  who  could 
now  fish  from  the  bank. 

Then  he  sat  down  to  watch — and  to  dream.  He  could  see 
that  she  was  getting  out  more  and  more  line,  and  throwing  beau- 
tifully ;  but  he  had  persuaded  himself  (or  thought  he  had  per- 
suaded himself)  into  the  belief  that  the  singular  and  constant 
charm  of  this  river  had  no  association  with  her,  or  wath  the  quiet 
hours  these  two  had  passed  there  together.  It  was  the  stream 
talking  to  him  that  had  fascinated  him  as  he  sat  idly  and  listened. 
He  had  grown  familiar  with  every  cadence  of  that  mysterious 
voice — now  a  whispering  and  laughing  as  the  water  chased  over 
the  sunny  shallows — then  a  harsher  note  where  the  current,  fret- 
ting and  chafing,  as  it  were,  was  broken  by  multitudes  of  stones 
— again  a  low  murmur  as  the  black  river  swept,  dark  and  sullen, 
through  a  contracted  channel — finally  a  fiercer  tumult  as  this 
once-placid  Aivron,  increasing  in  pace  and  volume  every  moment, 
flung  itself,  lion-like,  over  the  masses  of  rocks — its  tawny  mane 
upheaved  to  the  daylight — and  then  fell,  crashing  and  plunging, 
into  a  mighty  chasm,  the  birchwoods  around  reverberating  with 
its  angry  roar.  Far  away  is  the  lonely  sea.  This  friendly  river 
may  laugh  or  brawl  as  it  will,  but  there  is  peace  for  it  at  last ; 
its  varying  voices  must  eventually  disappear  in  the  dull,  slow 
tumult  of  the  distant  world.  And  yet  it  seemed  to  him  to  com- 
plain as  it  went  by — to  appeal  to  him ;  and  yet  why  to  him,  if 


164  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

he,  too,  was  summoned  away  from  this  still  solitude  and  sucked 
into  a  murmuring  ocean  still  more  awful  than  the  sea  ? 

"  Well  done.  Miss  Ilonnor !"  old  Robert  called  out. 

Suddenly  startled  from  his  idle  reverie,  Lionel  beheld  the  line 
being  swiftly  taken  across  to  the  other  side  of  the  river,  sending 
up  a  little  spurt  of  spray  as  it  cleft  the  current. 

"  A  good  one  this  time,  Robert,  isn't  it  ?"  she  cried. 

"  Ay,  I'm  thinking  that's  a  good  fish,"  old  Robert  made  an- 
swer, as  he  rose  from  the  bank  and  came  down  to  her  side. 

"  And  there's  a  fair  field  and  no  favor,"  she  continued.  "  Plen- 
ty of  room  for  him — and  he  doesn't  seem  inclined  to  tug." 

No,  this  was  not  a  "  jiggering "  fish  ;  but  he  was  a  pretty 
lively  customer,  for  all  that,  as  they  were  soon  to  find  out.  For, 
after  having  rested  for  a  minute  or  so,  he  made  a  wild  rush  up- 
stream, still  on  the  other  side,  that  took  a  dangerous  length  of 
line  out  and  kept  her  running  after  him,  and  winding  up  when 
possible  as  well  as  she  was  able.  Farther  and  farther  he  went, 
until  she  had  arrived  at  the  junction  of  the  Geinig  and  the  Aiv- 
ron,  she  being  on  the  Geinig  shore,  and  the  fish  making  up  the 
other  stream.     Here  was  a  pleasant  predicament ! 

"  Mr.  Moore,"  she  called  out,  "  take  the  rod  and  wade  in ! — I 
daren't  give  him  more  line — quick,  quick,  please  !" 

Her  entreaty  was  quite  pathetic  in  its  earnestness ;  but  old 
Robert  was  less  excited, 

"  If  Mr.  Moore  was  not  here  you  would  be  in  the  watter  your- 
self. Miss  Ilonnor,"  the  old  man  said,  with  a  smile. 

However,  before  the  rod  could  be  given  into  Lionel's  hands 
the  salmon  had  changed  his  tactics.  He  came  dashing  across 
to  the  nearer  side  of  the  Aivron,  so  that  the  nose  of  land  sepa- 
rating the  two  rivers  threatened  to  come  between  the  fish  and 
his  captor ;  there  he  lay  still. 

"  Robert,"  she  cried,  in  despair,  "  if  he  goes  another  yard  up- 
stream he  will  have  the  line  on  that  bush  !     What  is  to  be  done?'* 

Almost  at  the  same  moment  the  fish  began  to  move  again — 
slowly  this  time — and  with  agonized  anxiety  they  saw  the  line, 
despite  all  her  efforts  to  keep  it  off,  being  quietly  drawn  into  the 
small  hazel-bush.     But  Robert  knew  that  bush  and  its  ways. 

"■  Take  the  rod  in,  sir,  as  far  as  you  can  go,"  he  said  to  Lionel ; 
and  then  he  himself  ran  round  to  a  shallow  ford  of  the  Geinig, 
crossed  over,  went  along  the  bank,  and  proceeded  to  get  the  line 


PRINCE    KORTUNATUS.  165 

cautiously  off  tlie  twigs  and  leaves.  As  soon  as  he  had  accoin- 
plislied  that  he  stealthily  withdrew,  stooped  down,  and  crept 
along  the  Aivron  bank  until  he  was  a  little  ahead  of  the  fish, 
which,  indeed,  was  almost  underneath  his  feet ;  then  he  sud- 
denly raised  himself  to  his  full  height  and  threw  up  both  arms. 
That  was  enough  for  the  salmon.  Away  to  the  other  side  he 
rushed,  leading  down-stream ;  and  Lionel  had  now  his  work  cut 
out  for  him,  for  he  was  standing  in  deep  water,  on  a  shelving 
bank  of  loose  shingle,  and  he  had  to  follow  somehow,  reeling  in 
as  best  he  might.  But  ever,  as  he  struggled  after  that  obdurate, 
unseen  creature,  he  made  for  shallower  water ;  and  at  length  he 
reached  dry  land,  and  was  glad  to  give  the  rod  into  Miss  llon- 
nor's  hands  again — the  fish,  which  had  never  once  shown  him- 
self, being  now  almost  opposite  her  and  in  mid-channel. 

Well,  they  had  a  good  deal  of  trouble  with  this  salmon,  for 
he  did  not  exhaust  himself  with  any  further  rushes,  nor  did  he 
disport  himself  in  the  air ;  he  simply  lay  low  in  the  water,  in  a 
pretty  strong  current,  and  awaited  events.  But  here  in  the  open 
Miss  Honnor  had  regained  her  confidence  and  usual  composure  ; 
and  in  the  end  the  continuous  pressure  of  the  green-heart  top 
was  too  much  for  him  ;  he  began  to  yield — fiercely  fighting  now 
and  again  to  get  away,  to  be  sure ;  but  the  climax  was  a  sud- 
den flash  of  Robert's  steel  clip,  and  a  lieavy-shouldered  fifteen- 
pounder  was  out  on  the  stones.  Old  Robert,  smiling  grimly  at 
the  success  of  his  young  mistress,  but  saying  nothing,  had  to 
"  wet "  the  fish  all  by  himself  ;  for  Miss  Honnor's  drink  was 
water ;  and  as  for  Lionel,  his  throat  was  too  valuable  and  sensi- 
tive a  possession  to  be  treated  to  raw  spirits  at  that  time  of  the 
morning.  Then,  that  ceremony  being  over,  they  deposited  the 
salmon  in  a  hole  in  the  bank,  to  be  picked  up  on  their  home- 
ward journey,  and  forthwith  set  out  again,  up  the  valley  of  the 
Geinig. 

Their  surroundings  were  now  becoming  more  wild  and  lonely 
— this,  in  fact,  being  the  route  by  which  Lionel  had  travelled 
the  day  before  when  he  was  after  the  deer.  Down  in  the  glen, 
it  is  true,  everything  was  pretty  enough — the  silver-gray  rocks, 
the  rushing  brown  water,  the  banks  hanging  with  birches ;  but 
far  away  on  those  upland  heights  there  was  nothing  but  the 
monotonous  deep  purple  of  the  heather,  broken  here  and  there, 
perhaps,  by  a  dark-green  pine  ;  and  beyond  those  heights  again 


166  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

rose  the  rounded  tops  and  shoulders  of  the  distant  cloud-stained 
hills.  It  was  after  Miss  Honnor  had  industriously  but  unsuc- 
cessfully fished  the  Horseshoe  and  the  Cormorant  Pool  that 
she  chanced  to  be  regarding  that  mountainous  line  along  the 
sky ;  and  she  then  perceived  that  one  of  those  far  shoulders 
was  gradually  changing  from  a  sombre  blue  into  a  soft  and 
pearly  gray. 

"  Do  you  see  the  veil  that  has  come  over  the  high  peak  yon- 
der ?"  she  asked  of  her  companion.  "  There  is  rain  falling 
there ;  and  most  likely  we  shall  have  a  shower  or  two  here  by 
and  by ;  and,  as  you  have  no  waterproof,  we  may  as  well  push 
on  to  a  place  of  shelter  where  we  can  have  our  lunch.  I  know 
a  pretty  little  dell  up  there,  just  above  the  Geinig  Pool ;  and  it 
will  be  quite  a  new  sensation  for  me  to  have  any  one  with  me, 
for  ordinarily  I  have  my  lunch  there  in  solitary  state,  and  I  sit 
and  stare,  and  sit  and  stare,  until  I  believe  I  know  every  stone 
in  the  burn  and  every  spear  of  grass  on  the  opposite  bank. 

Even  as  she  spoke  there  was  a  slight  pattering  here  in  the 
sunlight,  and  diamonds  began  to  glitter  on  the  brackan.  Then 
came  a  cold  stirring  of  wind ;  there  was  a  sensation  of  darkness 
overhead — of  impending  gloom — of  hushed  expectancy ;  finally, 
just  as  they  reached  the  little  glade,  descended  into  it,  crossed 
the  burn,  and  took  refuge  beneath  some  overhanging  birch 
trees,  the  heavy  rattle  of  the  deluge  was  heard  all  around  them, 
and  they  were  glad  enough  to  be  under  this  canopy  of  trembling 
leaves.  It  was  only  a  sharp  shower,  after  all.  That  universal 
whir  grew  fainter ;  the  air  became  warmer ;  a  kind  of  watery 
glow  began  to  show  itself  in  the  sky  ;  presently,  as  they  ven- 
tured to  look  up  through  the  dripping,  pendulous  branches, 
there  was  a  glimpse  of  heavenly  blue  above  them ;  behold,  the 
rain  was  over  and  gone  ! 

Then  carefully  did  the  handsome  old  gillie  spread  out  her 
waterproof  on  the  sloping  bank  for  Miss  Honnor  to  sit  on ;  he 
brought  forth  tlic  little  parcels  neatly  tied  up  in  white  paper, 
likewise  a  bottle  of  milk  and  two  silver  drinking-cups ;  when 
he  had  seen  that  she  was  all  properly  cared  for,  he  handed  to 
Lionel  the  game-bag  which  had  held  the  luncheon,  so  that  that 
might  serve  as  the  other  seat,  if  he  chose;  and  then. the  old 
man  withdrew  a  few  yards  down  the  little  hollow,  to  be  within 
call  if  he  were  wanted. 


PRINCE    FORTUNATIS.  167 

And  what  had  Lionel  to  say  for  himself,  now  that  he  had 
been  admitted  into  this  secret  haunt  of  the  river-maiden  ?  Well, 
if  the  truth  must  be  told,  he  was  considerably  embarrassed. 
For  one  thing,  he  was  mortally  afraid  that  she  might  suddenly 
bethink  herself  of  Paul  and  Virginia,  and  be  annoyed  by  a  situ- 
ation which  was  certainly  none  of  his  contriving.  What  was 
still  worse,  she  might  be  amused !  He  could  not  get  it  out  of 
his  head  that  there  was  something  dangerously,  almost  ludi- 
crously, conventional  in  the  whole  position ;  it  seemed  to  sug- 
gest some  foolish,  old-fashioned,  sentimental  picture.  The  soli- 
tary dell,  and  the  two  figures  ;  why,  he  felt  as  if  blue  ribbons 
were  beginning  to  sprout  at  his  knees ;  and  he  feared  to  turn 
to  his  companion  lest  he  should  find  her  with  a  crook  and  a 
kirtle.  He  did  not  ask  himself  why  wretched  reminiscences  of 
theatrical  tradition  should  thrust  themselves  upon  him  here  in 
the  lonely  wilds  of -Ross-shire  ;  what  he  dreaded  was  that  some 
such  idea  might  occur  to  her  and  provoke  her  resentment — 
what  was  still  more  ghastly,  it  might  make  her  laugh ! 

Honnor  Cunyngham,  for  her  part,  was  quietly  and  contented- 
ly munching  her  sandwiches  of  salmon  and  vinegared  lettuce- 
leaf  ;  and  no  such  idle  town-fancies  were  troubling  her.  Prob- 
ably she  was  thinking  that  the  hot  sunlight  after  the  shower 
made  everything  intensely  vivid — the  silver-stemmed  birches  in 
this  picturesque  little  dell  rising  gracefully  into  the  keen  blue 
of  the  sky  ;  the  diamond  -  starred  bracken  and  grass  shining 
after  the  wet ;  the  clear,  tea-brown  water  at  her  feet  glancing  in 
the  sun  ;  the  green  and  bronze  stones  and  pebbles  showing  clear 
at  the  bottom  of  the  pellucid  brook  as  it  chased  and  danced  on 
its  way  down  to  the  Geinig.  And  whatever  else  she  may  have 
been  thinking  of,  she  was  almost  certainly  conscious  that  vine- 
gared lettuce-leaf  in  a  sandwich  was  a  vast  improvement. 

"  Do  you  come  here  often  ?"  he  said,  at  length. 

"  It  is  my  favorite  nook,"  she  made  answer. 

"  I  confess  that  I  feel  horribly  like  an  interloper,"  be  re- 
marked, hesitatingly.  "  I  feel  as  if  I — as  if  I  had  no  right  to 
be  here — as  if  I  were  invading  a  sacred  retreat — "  and  there  he 
stopped ;  for  he  would  have  liked  to  add,  "  the  sacred  retreat 
of  a  sylvan  goddess  or  a  nymph  of  the  stream,"  but  that  he 
somehow  felt  that  fantastic  imagery  of  that  kind  would  hardly 
be  appropriate. 


168  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  You  had  more  need  of  the  shelter  than  I,"  said  this  extreme- 
ly matter-of-fact  young  person,  "  for  you  had  no  waterproof, 
and  I  had.  Come,  if  you  have  finished,  shall  we  go  up  to  the 
Top  Pool  ? — I  want  you  to  have  a  cast  over  that,  for  it  is  an  ex- 
perience ;  and,  though  the  sun  is  out,  it  won't  much  matter ; 
there  is  always  such  a  boiling  and  surging  in  that  caldron." 

Old  Robert,  whose  head  was  just  visible  above  the  bracken, 
was  thereupon  called  to  pack  up  the  remains  of  the  simple 
feast,  and  then  they  set  forth  again — skirting,  but  not  troubling 
the  Geinig  Pool,  for  the  sun  was  too  strong.  A  beautiful  pool 
was  this  Geinig  Pool — the  water  coming  tumbling  down  over 
the  boulders  in  masses  of  chestnut  hue  and  white,  then  sailing 
away  in  a  rapid  sweep  of  purplish  blue,  and  then  breaking  over 
shallows  (whose  every  ripple  was  a  flashing  diamond  point)  as 
it  went  whirling  into  the  rocky  channel  beyond.  The  sun  lay 
hot  on  the  steep  banks,  where  not  a  leaf  of  the  birch-trees 
stirred  now,  and  on  the  lichened  rocks,  and  on  the  long  strand 
of  lilac-gray  pebbles ;  altogether  a  beautiful  pool  this  was,  set 
deep  in  its  cup  among  the  hills,  but  for  their  present  purposes 
useless. 

The  Top  Pool,  which  they  presently  reached,  was  altogether 
a  different  sort  of  place  ;  for  here  the  waters  plunged  into  a 
roaring  caldron  with  a  din  that  stunned  the  ears  ;  and  now  it 
was  that  Lionel  discovered  Miss  Ilonnor's  intention — he  was  to 
have  the  amusement  of  throwing  a  fly  over  this  maelstrom  from 
the  side  of  the  sheer  bank,  while  the  only  foothold  afforded  him 
was  the  stump  of  an  out-projecting  pine.  Well,  he  was  not  go- 
ing to  refuse — and  ask  a  young  lady  to  take  his  place.  lie  dug 
his  feet  into  the  soft  herbage  about  the  roots  of  the  tree ;  old 
Robert  handed  him  the  rod  ;  he  got  out  some  line ;  and  then 
began  to  try  how  he  could  get  a  fly  down  into  that  raging  vor- 
tex, while  keeping  clear  of  the  branches  over  his  head.  His 
first  impression  was  that  he  might  as  well  attempt  to  throw  a 
fly  to  the  moon,  but  presently  things  began  to  look  more  hope- 
ful, and  he  found  at  length  that,  when  the  fly  did  get  just  be- 
yond the  downward  rush  of  the  fall,  it  was  swept  by  the  current 
into  certain  glassy  deeps,  where  he  could  work  it  pretty  well. 
Hard  as  he  labored,  however,  that  jerking  little  gray  shrimp 
(for  that  was  what  the  fly  looked  like  in  the  water)  could  not  stir 
anything.      He  worked  away  until  even  the  indefatigable  Robert 


PRINOK   FORTUNATUS.  169 

said  he  had  done  enough  ;  then  he  reeled  up ;  and  perhaps  he 
was  not  sorry  to  regain  the  top  of  this  sheer  precipice,  where 
there  was  but  that  single  fir-stump  and  a  few  loose  branches  of 
birch  between  him  and  the  seething  and  surging  whirlpool 
below. 

He  was  more  fortunate  in  the  Geinig  Pool,  which  Miss  Cun- 
yngham  also  compelled  him  to  take,  good-naturedly  remarking 
that  she  had  her  hsh  already,  and  that  he  must  have  its  fellow 
to  carry  home  in  the  evening.  There  were  some  welcome  clouds 
about  now,  and  the  rock  from  which  he  had  to  cast  over  the 
Geinig  Pool  afforded  him  a  much  better  foothold  than  the  fir- 
roots.  At  first  things  did  not  seem  favorable,  for  he  went 
over  all  the  deep,  smooth  water  without  moving  a  fin ;  in  fact, 
he  had  fished  almost  right  to  the  end  of  the  pool,  when,  in  the 
Very  act  of  recovering  his  line,  he  got  hold  of  something.  And 
very  soon  he  found  that  he  had  got  hold  of  a  very  lively  some- 
thing ;  for  the  cantrips  which  this  small  salmon  played  were 
most  extraordinary.  For  a  second  or  two  he  seemed  inclined 
to  go  right  down  the  stony  channel  (which  would  have  instantly 
settled  the  matter,  as  there  was  no  possible  means  of  following 
him),  but  the  next  moment  he  had  dashed  right  up  through  the 
middle  of  the  pool,  tearing  the  water  as  he  went,  and  frighten- 
ing the  luckless  fisherman  half  out  of  his  wits  with  this  danger- 
ously slackening  line.  That,  however,  was  soon  righted ;  and 
now  the  salmon  lay  in  an  eddy  just  below  the  fall.  Would  he 
attempt  to  breast  that  bulk  of  water  in  a  mad  effort  to  be  free 
of  this  hateful  thing  that  had  got  hold  of  him  ? — then  good-bye 
to  him  forever !  But  no — that  was  not  his  fancy  ;  he  suddenly 
sprang  into  the  air — and  again  sprang — and  then  savagely  beat 
the  surface  with  body  and  tail ;  after  which  fearsome  perform- 
ance he  swerved  round  and  came  right  in  under  the  rock  on 
which  Lionel  was  standing,  where  they  could  see  him  lying  per- 
fectly still  in  the  deep,  clear  water.  He  neither  tugged  nor 
bored ;  that  olive-green  thing  (for  so  he  appeared  in  these 
depths)  lay  perfectly  motionless — no  doubt  planning  further 
devilment  and  only  waiting  to  recover  his  strength.  Meanwhile 
Lionel  had  scrambled  a  bit  higher  up  the  rock,  so  as  to  get  the 
rod  at  a  safer  angle. 

"  He's  a  lively  fellow,  that  one  !"  old  Robert  said,  with  a  grin. 
"  Ay,  sir,  and  ve  hooked  him  ferrv  well,  too." 


170  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  I  should  say  I  did !"  Lionel  exclaimed.  "  I  had  no  idea 
there  was  a  fish  there — I  never  saw  him  coming — 1  was  draw'ing 
the  line  out  of  the  water,  and  all  at  once  thought  I  had  struck 
on  a  log.  He's  well  hooked,  I  should  think  ;  but  I  didn't  hook 
him — he  hooked  himself." 

"  He's  not  a  ferry  big  one,  but  he's  a  salmon  whatever,"  old 
Robert  said  ;  and  then  he  suddenly  called  out,  "  Mind,  sir  ! — let 
him  go  ! — let  him  go  !" 

For  away  went  that  little  wretch  again,  tearing  over  to  the 
other  side,  where  he  lashed  and  better  lashed  the  surface ;  and 
then,  getting  tired  of  that  exercise,  he  somewhat  sullenly  came 
sailing  into  mid-streum,  where  there  was  a  smooth,  dark  current, 
bounded  on  the  side  next  the  fisherman  by  some  brown  shelves 
of  rock  only  a  few  inches  under  water.  And  what  must  this 
demon  of  a  fish  do  but  begin  boring  into  the  stream,  so  that 
every  moment  the  line  was  Toeing  drawn  nearer  and  nearer  to 
the  knife-like  edge. 

"  Here,  Robert,  what  am  I  to  do  now  ?"  Lionel  cried,  in  dis- 
may. "  Another  couple  of  inches,  and  it's  all  over !  How  are 
we  to  get  him  out  of  that  hole  ?" 

"  Mebbe  he'll  no  go  raich  deeper,"  Robert  observed,  calmly, 
but  with  his  gray  eyes  keenly  watching. 

"  If  I  lose  this  fish,"  Lionel  said,  between  his  teeth,  "  I'll 
throw  myself  into  the  pool  after  him !" 

"You'd  better  not,"  said  Miss  Cunyngham,  placidly,  "for  if 
Robert  has  to  gaff  you,  you'll  find  it  a  very  painful  experi- 
ence." 

But  now  the  line  was  slackening  a  little  ;  the  fisherman  reeled 
in  quickly;  the  salmon  made  his  appearance  —  undoubtedly 
yielding  ;  and  then,  coming  over  the  shallow  rocks  in  obedience 
to  the  pressure  of  the  rod,  he  once  more  sailed  into  the  black, 
clear  pool  just  below  them.  Cautiously  old  Robert  crept  down. 
When  he  was  close  to  the  water,  he  bared  his  right  arm  and 
grasped  the  gaff  by  the  handle  ;  then  he  waited  and  watched, 
for  the  salmon  was  still  too  deep.  Lionel,  meanwhile,  had  got 
back  a  bit  on  the  rock,  so  that  any  sudden  rush  might  not  snap 
the  top  of  his  rod  in  two  ;  then  he  also  waited  and  watched, 
but  somewhat  increasing  the  pressure  on  the  fish.  Miss  Hon- 
nor  was  probably  as  interested  as  cither  of  thorn,  but  she  only 
said. 


"  Cautiously  old  Robert  crept  doirn.     W/ifii  he  wan  do»e  to  the  tcater, 
he  bared  hia  rif/hf  arm  and  r/raxped  the  gaff  bu  the  handle." 


PRINCE    FORTLNATUS.  171 

"  I  think  he  is  well-hooked,  and  you'll  get  him,  but  don't  bear 
too  hardly  on  him  for  all  that." 

The  conclusion  of  the  fight  proved  to  be  aperies  of  rapid  and 
cautious  skirmishes  between  the  salmon  and  old  Robert ;  for,  as 
soon  as  the  former  discovered  that  danger  awaited  hira  at  the 
foot  of  the  rock,  he  made  every  possible  effort  to  break  away, 
and  then,  getting  more  and  more  exhausted,  allowed  himself  to 
be  led  in  again.  And  then  at  last,  on  his  sailing  in  almost  on  his 
side,  so  dead  beat  was  he,  a  firm  stroke  of  the  gaff  caught  him 
behind  the  shoulder,  and  the  next  moment  he  was  in  mid-air, 
the  next  again  on  the  bare  rock. 

Now  when  you  have  slain  a  stag  one  day,  it  is  not  so  much 
of  a  triumph  to  kill  a  salmon  the  next;  nevertheless  Lionel  was 
as  heartily  glad  to  see  that  fish  ashore  as  he  would  have  been 
deeply  mortified  had  it  escaped.  For  was  not  Honnor  Cunyng- 
ham  looking  on  ?     Xay,  she  was  kind  enough  to  say  to  him, 

"  You  played  that  fish  very  well,  Mr.  Moore." 

"  I  have  been  watching  you  so  often,"  said  he,  modestly, 
"  that  I  must  have  learned  something.  And  now  you  must 
take  all  the  pools  on  the  way  home.  I  won't  touch  the  rod 
again  unless  when  wading  is  absolutely  necessary.  You  see,  I 
have  no  right  to  this  salmon  at  all;  I  consider  you  have  made 
me  a  present  of  him." 

"  We  must  try  and  get  another  somehow,  between  us,  before 
getting  back  to  the  lodge,"  said  she ;  and  this  unconscious 
coupling  of  themselves  as  companions  sounded  pleasant  to  his 
ears. 

Moreover,  as  old  Robert  had  now  the  fish  to  carry,  Lionel,  as 
usual,  made  bold  to  claim  Miss  Honnor's  waterproof,  which  he 
slung  over  his  arm  ;  and  that  also  was  a  privilege  he  greatly  en- 
joyed. Indeed,  his  satisfaction  as  they  now  proceeded  to  walk 
along  to  the  Horseshoe  Pool  was  but  natural  in  the  circum- 
stances. This  charming  companionship  secured  all  to  himself — 
the  capture  of  the  salmon — the  tribute  that  had  been  paid  to  his 
skill — the  magnetic  waterproof  hanging  over  his  arm — the  pros- 
pect of  a  long  ramble  home  on  this  beautiful  afternoon :  all 
these  things  combined  were  surely  sutficient  to  put  any  young 
man  in  an  excellent  humor.  And  there  was  something  more  in 
store  for  him. 

"  Do   you  know,"  he   was  saying,  as  they  walked  along  to- 


173  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

gether,  "  that  I  have  grown  quite  used  to  the  solitariness  of  this 
neighborhood  ?  I  don't  find  it  strange,  or  melancholy,  or  op- 
pressive any  longer.  I  suppose  when  I  get  back  to  a  crowded 
city,  the  roar  of  it  will  be  absolutely  bewildering ;  indeed,  I  am 
looking  forward  with  a  good  deal  of  interest  to  seeing  some- 
thing of  the  world  again  at  Kilfearn — which  can't  be  a  very  big 
place  either." 

"  Oh,  are  you  going  to  the  opening  of  the  Kilfearn  Town 
Hall  ?"  she  asked. 

"  Yes,"  said  he,  with  a  little  surprise,  "  I  thought  everybody 
was  going.  Aren't  you  ?  I  understood  the  whole  world — of 
Ross-shire — was  to  be  there,  and  that  I  was  to  make  a  sudden 
plunge  into  a  perfect  whirlpool  of  human  life." 

"  It  will  amuse  you,"  she  said,  with  a  quiet  smile.  "  You 
will  see  all  the  county  families  there,  staring  at  one  another's 
guests ;  and  you  will  hear  a  lot  of  songs,  like  '  My  Pretty  Jane  ' 
and  '  Ever  of  Thee,'  sung  by  bashful  young  ladies.  At  the 
opening  of  the  proceedings  my  brother  Hugh  will  make  a  speech  ; 
he  is  their  chairman,  and  I  know  precisely  what  he  will  say. 
Hugh  always  speaks  to  the  point.  It  will  be  something  like 
this :  '  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  am  glad  to  see  you  here  to-night. 
"We  still  want  £180,  We  mean  to  give  two  more  concerts  to 
clear  the  debt  right  off.  You  must  all  come  and  bring  your 
friends.  I  will  not  longer  stand  in  the  way  of  the  performers 
who  have  kindly  volunteered  their  services." 

"  And  that  is  a  most  admirable  speech,"  her  companion  ex- 
claimed. "  It  says  everything  that  is  wanted  and  nothing  more  ; 
I  call  it  a  model  speech  !" 

"  Mr.  Moore,"  she  said,  suddenly  looking  up,  "  are  you  going 
to  sing  at  the  concert  ?" 

"  I  believe  so,"  he  answered. 

"  What  are  you  going  to  sing?" 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know  yet.  Whatever  I  am  asked  for.  Lady 
Adcla  is  arranging  the  programme."  And  then  he  added,  rather 
breathlessly,  "  Is  there  anything  you  would  care  to  have  me 
sing  ?" 

"  Well,  to  tell  you  the  truth,"  said  she,  quite  frankly,  "  I  hard- 
ly intended  going.  But  if  I  thought  there  was  a  chance  of  hear- 
ing you  sing  some  such  song  as  '  The  Bonnie  Earl  o'  Moray,'  I 
would  go." 


PKINCE    FOBTUNATU8.  173 

"  '  The  Bonnie  Earl  o'  Moray  V  "  be  said,  eagerl}'.  "  The  song 
that  Miss  Lestrange  sang  the  other  night  ?" 

"The  song  that  Miss  Lestrange  made  a  fool  of  the  other 
night,"  she  said,  contemptuously.  "  But  if  you  were  to  sing  it, 
you  would  make  it  very  fine  and  impressive.  I  should  like  to 
hear  you  sing  that  in  a  large  hall." 

"  Oh,  but  certainly  I  will  sing  it !"  he  said,  quickly,  for  he 
was  only  too  rejoiced- that  she  should  prefer  this  small  request, 
as  showing  that  she  did  take  some  little  interest  in  him  and 
what  he  could  do.  "  I  will  make  a  stipulation  that  I  sing  it,  if 
I  sing  anything.     Miss  Lestrange  won't  mind,  I  know." 

"I  almost  think  you  should  go  under  an  assumed  name," 
Miss  Ilonnor  said,  presently,  with  a  bit  of  a  laugh.  "  I  dare 
say  the  people  wouldn't  recognise  you  in  ordinary  dress.  And 
then,  when  the  amateur  vocalists  had  been  going  on  with  their 
Pretty-Janes  and  Meet-Me-by-Moon lights,  when  you  gave  them 
*  The  Bonnie  Earl  o'  Moray,'  as  you  would  sing  it,  I  should 
think  amazement  would  be  on  most  faces.  But  I  dare  say  Lady 
Adela  has  had  it  announced  in  the  Inverness  Courier  that  you 
are  to  sing,  for  they  want  to  make  a  grand  success  of  the  con- 
cert, to  help  to  clear  off  the  debt ;  and  of  course  all  the  people 
from  the  shooting-lodges  will  be  coming,  for  it  isn't  every  au- 
tumn they  have  a  chance  of  hearing  Mr.  Lionel  Moore  in  Ross- 
shire." 

Really,  she  was  becoming  quite  complaisant  1 — this  proud, 
unapproachable  fisher-maiden,  who  seemed  to  live,  remote  and 
isolated,  in  a  world  all  of  her  own.  And  so  she  was  coming  to 
this  amateur  concert,  merely  to  hear  him  sing  ?  Be  sure  the 
first  thing  he  did  that  evening,  on  entering  the  drawing-room 
after  dinner,  was  to  go  up  to  Miss  Georgie  Lestrange  with  a 
humble  little  speech,  asking  her  whether  she  would  object  to 
his  borrowing  that  particular  ballad  from  her  repertory.  The 
smiling  and  gracious  young  damsel  instantly  replied  that,  on 
the  contrary,  she  would  be  delighted  to  play  the  accompani- 
ment for  him.  Would  he  look  at  the  music  now  ?  He  did  look 
at  it ;  found  it  simple  enough ;  imagined  that  the  refrain  verse 
might  be  made  rather  effective.  Would  he  try  it  over  now  ? 
Yes,  if  she  would  be  so  kind.  She  forthwith  went  to  the  piano, 
he  following ;  and  at  once  there  was  silence  in  the  long,  low- 
ccilinged  drawing-room.     Of  course  this  was  but  a  trial,  and 


i74  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

the  room  had  not  been  constructed  with  a  view  to  any  acoustic 
requirements;  nevertheless,  the  fine  and  penetrating  timbre  of 
his  trained  voice  told  all  the  same  ;  indeed,  it  is  probable  there 
was  a  lump  in  the  throat  of  more  than  one  of  those  young 
ladies  when  he  sang  the  pathetic  refrain,  with  its  proud  and 
sonorous  finish — 

"  0  Ling  may  his  lady-love 

Look  fi-ae  the  Castle  Doune, 
Ere  she  see  the  Earl  o'  Moray 

Come  sounding  through  the  toun." 

Simple  as  the  air  was,  it  haunted  the  ear  even  of  this  profes- 
sional vocalist  all  the  evening ;  but  perhaps  that  was  because  he 
was  looking  forward  to  a  coming  occasion  on  which  he  would 
have  to  sing  the  ballad  ;  and  well  he  knew  that  however  numer- 
ous his  audience  might  be — though  he  might  be  standing  before 
all  the  Rosses  and  Frasers,  the  Gordons  and  Munroes,  the  Mac- 
kays  and  Mackenzies  of  the  county — well  he  knew  that  he  would 
be  singing — that  he  intended  to  sing — to  an  audience  of  one  only. 
And  which  would  she  like  to  have  emphasized  the  more — the 
pathetic  and  hopeless  outlook  of  the  lady  in  the  tower,  or  the 
proud  state  and  ceremony  of  the  earl  himself  as  he  used  to 
"  come  sounding  through  the  toun  "  ?  Well,  he  would  practise  a 
little,  and  ascertain  what  he  could  do  with  it — on  some  occasion 
when  he  found  himself  alone  away  up  in  the  hills,  with  a  silence 
around  him  unbroken  save  for  the  hushed  whisper  of  the  birch- 
leaves  and  the  distant,  low  murmur  of  the  Geinig  falls. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE    PHANTOM    STAG. 


But  if  he  were  so  anxious  about  how  he  should  sing  (for  his 
audience  of  one  only)  that  old  Scotch  ballad,  he  was  not  acting 
very  wisely,  or  else  he  had  a  sublime  confidence  in  the  sound- 
ness of  his  chest ;  for  on  his  host's  ofEering  him  another  day's 
stalking,  he  cheerfully  accepted  the  same ;  and  that  notwith- 
standing they  had  now  fallen  upon  a  period  of  extremely  rough, 
cold,  and  wet  weather.  Was  this  another  piece  of  bravado, 
then — undertaken  to  produce  a  favorable  impression  in  a  cer- 


PRINCE    FORTUNATl'S.  175 

tain  quarter — or  had  the  hunter's  hunger  really  got  hold  of  him  ? 
On  the  evening  before  the  appointed  raid,  even  tlie  foresters 
looked  glum ;  the  western  hills  were  ominous  and  angry,  and 
the  wind  that  came  howling  down  the  strath  seemed  to  foretell 
a  storm.  But  he  was  not  to  be  daunted  ;  he  said  he  would  give 
up  only  when  Roderick  assured  him  that  the  expedition  was  quite 
impracticable  and  useless. 

"  I  hear  you  are  going  after  the  deer  to-morrow,"  said  tlie 
pretty  Miss  Georgie  Lestrange  to  him,  in  the  drawing-room  after 
dinner,  while  Lady  Sybil  was  performing  her  famous  fantasia 
"  The  Voices  of  the  Moonlight,"  to  which  nobody  listened  but 
her  own  admiring  self.  "  And  I  was  told  all  about  that  custom 
of  making  the  stalker  a  little  present  on  his  setting  out,  for  good- 
luck.  It  was  Ilonnor  Cunyngham  who  did  that  for  you  last 
time,  and  I  think  it  should  be  my  turn  to-morrow  morning." 

"  Oh,  thank  you  !"  said  he  ;  but  "  Thank  you  for  nothing  !" 
he  said  in  his  heart ;  for  why  should  any  frivolous  trinket — even 
when  presented  by  this  very  charming  and  complaisant  young 
damsel — be  allowed  to  interfere  with  the  prerogative  of  Miss 
Cunyngham's  sacred  talisman  ? 

"  I  say,"  continued  the  bright-eyed,  ruddy-haired  lass,  "  what 
do  you  and  Honnor  Cunyngham  talk  about  all  day  long,  when 
you  are  away  on  those  fishing  excursions  ?  Don't  you  bore  each 
other  to  death  ?  Oh,  I  know  she's  rather  learned,  though  she 
doesn't  bestow  much  of  her  knowledge  upon  us.  Well,  I'm  not 
going  to  say  anything  against  Honnor,  for  she's  so  awfully 
good-natured,  you  know  ;  she  allows  her  sisters-in-law  to  experi- 
ment on  her  as  an  audience,  and  she  has  always  something 
friendly  and  nice  to  say,  though  I  can  guess  what  she  thinks  of 
it  all.     Now,  what  do  you  two  talk  about  all  day  long?" 

"  Well,  there's  the  fishing,"  said  he,  "  for  one  thing." 

"  Oh,  don't  tell  me  !"  exclaimed  this  impertinent  young  hussy 
(while  "  The  Voices  of  the  Moonlight"  moaned  and  mourned  their 
mysterious  regrets  and  despairs  at  the  far  end  of  the  drawing- 
room).  "  Don't  tell  me  !  Honnor  Cunyngham  is  far  too  good- 
looking  for  you  to  go  talking  salmon  to  her  all  day  long.  Very 
handsome  I  call  her ;  don't  you  ?  She's  so  distinguished,  some- 
how— so  different  from  any  one  else.  Of  course  you  don't  no- 
tice it  up  here  so  much,  where  she  prides  herself  on  roughing  it 
— you  never  met  her  in  London  ? — in  London  you  should  see 


176  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

her  come  into  a  drawing-room — her  walk  and  manner  are  simply 
splendid.  She'll  never  marry,"  continued  this  garrulous  little 
person,  with  the  coquettish  pince-nez  perched  on  her  not  too 
Grecian  nose,  "  I'm  sure  she  won't.  She  despises  men — all  of 
them  except  her  brother,  Sir  Hugh.  Lord  Rockminster  admires 
her  tremendously,  but  he's  too  lazy  to  say  so,  I  suppose.  How 
has  she  taken  such  a  fancy  to  you  ?" 

''  I  was  not  aware  she  had,"  Lionel  discreetly  made  answer, 
though  the  question  had  startled  him,  and  not  with  pain. 

"  Oh,  yes,  she  has.  Did  she  think  you  were  lone  and  unpro- 
tected, being  persecuted  by  the  rest  of  us  ?  I  am  quite  certain 
she  wouldn't  allow  my  brother  Percy  to  go  fishing  a  whole  day 
with  her;  most  likely  Lord  Rockminster  wouldn't  care  to  take 
the  trouble.  I  wonder  if  she  hasn't  a  bit  of  a  temper  ?  Lady 
Rosamund  is  awful  sometimes ;  but  she  doesn't  show  that  to 
you — catch  her  J  But  Honnor  Cunyngham — well,  the  only  time 
I  ever  went  with  her  on  one  of  her  storking  expeditions,  the 
water  was  low,  and  she  thrashed  away  for  hours,  and  saw  noth- 
ing. At  last  a  stot  happened  to  come  wandering  along  ;  and  she 
said,  quite  savagely, '  I'm  going  to  hook  something  !'  You  don't 
know  what  a  stot  is  ? — it's  a  young  bullock.  So  she  deliberate- 
ly walked  to  within  twenty  yards  or  so  of  the  animal,  threw  the 
line  so  that  it  just  dropped  across  its  neck,  and  the  fly  caught  in 
the  thick  hair.  You  should  have  seen  the  gay  performance  that 
followed  !  The  beast  shook  its  head  and  shook  its  head — for 
it  could  feel  the  line,  if  it  couldn't  feel  the  fly  ;  and  then,  getting 
alarmed,  it  started  off  up  the  hill,  with  the  reel  squealing  just  as 
if  a  salmon  were  on,  and  Honnor  running  after  him  as  hard 
as  she  could  over  the  bracken  and  heather.  If  it  were  rage 
made  her  hook  the  stot,  she  was  laughing  now — laughing  so  that 
when  the  beast  stopped  she  could  hardly  reel  in  the  line.  And 
old  Robert — I  thought  he  would  have  had  a  fit.  '  Will  I  gaff 
liim  now.  Miss  Honnor?'  he  cried,  as  he  came  running  along. 
Hut  the  stot  didn't  mean  to  be  gaffed.  Off  it  set  again  ;  and 
Honnor  after  it,  until  at  last  it  caught  the  line  in  a  birch-bush 
and  broke  it ;  then,  just  as  if  nothing  had  happened,  it  began  to 
graze,  as  usual.  You  should  have  seen  the  game  that  began  then 
— old  Robert  and  Honnor  trying  to  get  hold  of  the  stot,  so  as  to 
take  the  casting-line  and  the  fly  from  its  mane — it  isn't  a  mane, 
but  you  know — and  the  stot  trying  to  butt  them  whenever  they 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  I77 

came  near.     The  end  of  it  was  that  the  beast  shook  off  the  fly 

for  itself,  and  old  Robert  found  it ;  but  I  wonder  whether  it  were 
real  rage  that  made  Ilonnor  Cunyngham  hook  the  stot — " 
"Of  course  not !"  he  said.  "  It  was  a  mere  piece  of  fun." 
"  It  isn't  fun  when  Lady  Rosamund  comes  down-stairs  in  a  bad 
temper — after  you  gentlemen  have  left,"  remarked  Miss  Gcorgie, 
significantly  ;  and  then  she  prattled  away  in  this  careful  under- 
tone. "  What  horrid  stuff  that  fantasia  is;  don't  you  think  so? 
A  mixture  of  Wagner,  and  Chopin,  and  '  Home,  Sweet  Home.' 
Lady  Adela  has  put  you  in  her  novel.  Oh,  yes,  she  has ;  she 
showed  me  the  last  pages  this  morning.  You  remember  the 
young  married  English  lady  who  is  a  great  poetess  ? — well,  she 
is  rescued  from  drowning  in  the  Bay  of  Syracuse  by  a  young 
Greek  sailor,  and  you  are  the  Greek  sailor.  You'll  be  flattered 
by  her  description  of  you.  You  are  entirely  Greek  and  god- 
like— what  is  that  bust  ? — Alcibiades  ? — no,  no,  he  was  a  general, 
wasn't  he  ? — Alcinous,  is  it  ? — or  Antinous  ? — never  mind,  the 
bust  you  see  so  often  in  Florence  and  Rome — well,  you're  de- 
scribed as  being  like  that ;  and  the  young  English  lady  becomes 
your  patron,  and  you're  to  be  educated,  and  brought  to  London. 
But  whether  her  husband  is  to  be  killed  off,  to  make  way  for 
you,  or  whether  she  is  going  to  hand  you  over  to  one  of  her 
sisters,  I  don't  know  yet.  It  must  be  rather  nice  to  look  at  your- 
self in  a  novel,  and  see  what  other  people  think  of  you  and  what 
fate  they  ordain  for  you.  Lady  Adela  has  got  all  the  criticisms 
of  her  last  novel — all  the  nice  ones,  I  mean — cut  out  and  pasted 
on  pages  and  bound  in  scarlet  morocco.  I  told  her  she  should 
have  all  the  unpleasant  ones  cut  out  and  bound  in  green — envy 
and  jealousy,  don't  you  see  ? — but  she  pretends  not  to  have  seen 
any  besides  those  she  has  kept.  The  book  is  in  her  own  room ; 
I  suppose  she  reads  it  over  every  night,  before  going  to  bed. 
And  really,  after  so  much  praise,  it  is  extraordinary  that  she  is 
to  have  no  money  for  the  book — no,  quite  the  reverse,  I  believe. 
She  was  looking  forward  to  making  Sir  Hugh  a  very  handsome 
present — all  out  of  her  own  earnings,  don't  you  know — and  she 
wrote  to  the  publishers ;  but,  instead  of  Sir  Hugh  getting  a 
present,  he  will  have  to  give  her  a  check  to  cover  the  deficit, 
poor  man  !  Disappointing,  isn't  it  ? — quite  horrid,  I  call  it ;  and 
every  one  thought  the  novel  such  a  success — your  friend,  Mr. 
Quirk,  was  most  enthusiastic — and  we  made  sure  that  the  public 


178  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

would  be  equally  impressed.  It  isn't  the  loss  of  the  money  tliat 
Lady  Adela  frets  about ;  it  is  the  publishers  telling  her  that  so 
few  copies  have  been  sold ;  and  we  made  sure,  from  all  that  was 
said  in  the  papers — especially  those  that  Mr.  Quirk  was  kind 
enough  to  send — that  the  book  was  going  to  be  read  everywhere. 
Mind  you  don't  say  anything  of  the  young  Greek  sailor  until 
Lady  Adela  herself  shows  you  the  MS. ;  and  of  course  you 
mustn't  recognize  your  own  portrait,  for  that  is  merely  a  guess 
of  mine.     Oh,  thank  you,  thank  you  !" 

The  last  words  were  a  murmur  of  gratitude  to  Lady  Sybil 
Bourne  for  her  kindness  in  playing  this  piece  of  her  own  com- 
position ;  and  thereafter  Miss  Georgie's  engaging  and  instruc- 
tive monologue  was  not  resumed,  for  the  evening  was  now 
about  to  be  wound  up  by  a  round  or  two  of  poker,  and  at  poker 
Miss  Georgie  was  ^n  eager  adept. 

All  that  night  it  poured  a  deluge,  and  the  morning  beheld 
the  Aivron  in  roaring  spate,  the  familiar  landmarks  of  the  banks 
having  mostly  disappeared  and  also  many  of  the  mi'd-channel 
rocks  ;  while  the  blue-black  current  that  came  whirling  down  the 
strath  seemed  to  bring  with  it  the  dull,  constant  thunder  of  the 
distant  falls.  The  western  hills  looked  wild  and  stormy  ;  there 
was  half  a  gale  of  wind  tearing  along  the  valley  ;  and,  if  the  tor- 
rents of  the  night  had  mitigated,  there  were  still  flying  showers 
of  rain  that  promised  to  make  of  the  expedition  anything  but  a 
pleasure  excursion. 

"  Tell  me  if  it  is  any  use  at  all !"  Lionel  insisted,  for  it  must 
be  confessed  that  the  keepers  looked  very  doubtful. 

"  Well,  sir,  said  the  bushy-bearded  Roderick,  "  the  deer  will 
be  down  from  the  hills — oh,  yes — but  they'll  be  restless  and  mov- 
ing about — " 

"  Do  you  expect  I  shall  have  a  chance  at  one — that's  all  I  want 
to  know,"  was  the  next  demand. 

"  Oh,  yes,  there  may  be  that ;  but  you'll  get  ahfu  wet,  sir — " 

"  I'm  going,"  said  he,  definitely  ;  whereupon  the  pony  was 
straightway  brought  up  to  the  door. 

And  here  was  Miss  Georgie  Lestrange,  in  a  charming  morn- 
ing costume,  which  the  male  pen  may  not  adequately  describe, 
and  she  held  a  small  packet  in  her  hands. 

"  I  told  Honnor  Cunyngham  it  was  my  turn,"  she  said,  with  a 
kind  of  bashful  smile,  as  she  handed  the  little  present  to  him. 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  I79 

"and  she  only  laughed — I  wonder  if  she  thinks  she  can  com- 
mand all  the  luck  in  Koss-shire ;  has  she  got  a  monopoly  of  it  ? 
Well,  Mr.  Moore,  they  all  say  you'll  get  fearfully  wet ;  and  that 
is  a  silk  handkerchief  you  must  put  round  your  neck ;  what 
would  the  English  public  say  if  you  went  back  from  the  High- 
lands with  a  hoarse  throat !" 

"  I'm  not  thinking  of  the  English  public  just  at  present,"  said 
he,  cheerfully.  "  I'm  thinking  of  the  stag  that  is  wandering 
about  somewhere  up  in  the  hills ;  and  I  am  certain  your  good 
■wishes  will  get  me  a  shot  at  him.  How  kind  of  you  to  get  up 
so  early  ! — good-bye  !" 

This,  it  must  be  admitted,  was  a  most  hypocritical  speech  ;  for 
although,  as  he  rode  away,  he  made  a  pretence  of  tying  the  pale 
pink  neckerchief  round  his  throat,  it  was  on  the  influence  of  Miss 
Cunyngham's  lucky  sixpence — the  pierced  coin  was  secretly  at- 
tached to  his  watch-chain — that  he  relied.  In  fact,  before  he 
had  gone  far  from  the  lodge,  he  removed  that  babyish  protection 
against  the  rain  and  stuck  it  in  his  pocket ;  he  was  not  going 
to  throw  out  a  red  flag  to  warn  the  deer. 

After  all,  the  morning  was  not  quite  so  dismal  as  had  been 
threatened  ;  for  now  and  again,  as  they  went  away  up  the  strath, 
there  was  a  break  in  the  heavy  skies ;  and  then  the  river  shone 
a  deep  and  brilliant  purple-blue — save  where  it  came  hurling  in 
ale-hued  masses  over  the  rocks,  or  rushed  in  surging  white  foam 
through  the  stony  channels.  Sometimes  a  swift  glimmer  of  sun- 
light smote  down  on  the  swinging  current ;  but  these  flashes  were 
brief,  for  the  louring  clouds  were  still  being  driven  over  from 
the  west,  and  no  one  could  tell  what  the  day  would  bring  forth. 

"What  will  Miss  Honnor  do  in  a  spate  like  that?"  Lionel 
inquired  of  the  head  keeper.     "  Will  she  go  out  at  all  ?" 

"Oh,  ay.  Miss  Honnor  will  go  out,"  Roderick  made  answer; 
"  but  she  will  only  be  able  to  fish  the  tail-ends  o'  the  pools — ay, 
and  it  will  not  be  easy  to  put  a  fly  over  the  water,  unless  the 
wind  goes  down  a  bit." 

"  But  do  you  mean  she  will  go  out  on  a  day  like  this  ?"  he 
demanded  again — as  he  looked  at  the  wild  skies  and  the  thun- 
dering river. 

"  Oh,  ay,  if  there's  a  chance  at  ahl  Miss  Honnor  will  be  out," 
said  Roderick,  and  he  added,  with  a  demure  smile,  "  even  if  the 
chentlemen  will  be  for  staying  at  home." 


180  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

However,  Lionel  had  soon  to  consider  his  own  attitude  towards 
this  swollen  stream,  when  it  became  necessary  to  ford  it  on  the 
hither  side  of  the  Bad  Step.  To  tell  the  truth,  when  he  regarded 
that  racing  current,  he  did  not  like  the  look  of  it  at  all. 

"  I  don't  see  how  we  are  to  get  across,"  he  said,  with  some 
hesitation. 

"  Maggie  knaws  the  weh,"  Roderick  made  answer,  with  a  bit 
of  a  laugh. 

"Yes,  that's  all  very  well,"  said  the  mounted  huntsman.  "  I 
dare  say  she  knows  the  way ;  but  if  she  gets  knocked  over  in 
the  middle  of  the  current,  what  is  to  become  of  me,  or  of  her 
either  ?" 

"  She'll  manage  it,  sir,"  said  the  keeper,  confidently,  "  never 
fear." 

Lionel  was  just  on  the  point  of  saying,  "  Well,  you  come 
yourself  and  ride  her  across,  and  I'll  go  over  the  Bad  Step  on 
foot,"  but  he  did  not  like  to  show  the  white  feather;  so,  some- 
what apprehensively,  he  turned  the  old  pony's  head  to  the  river- 
bank.  And  very  soon  he  found  that  old  Maggie  knew  much 
better  what  she  was  about  than  he  did ;  for,  as  soon  as  she  felt 
the  weight  of  the  water,  she  did  not  attempt  to  go  straight 
across ;  she  deliberately  turned  her  head  down-stream,  put  her 
buttocks  against  the  force  of  the  current,  and  thus  sideways, 
and  very  cautiously,  and  with  many  a  thrilling  stumble  and 
catching  up  again,  she  proceeded  to  ford  this  whirling  Aivron. 
Never  once  did  she  expose  herself  broadside  ;  her  hind-legs  were 
really  doing  most  of  the  fight ;  and  right  gratefully  did  Lionel 
clap  the  neck  of  this  wise  beast  when  he  found  himself  on  solid 
land.  The  ford  farther  up  was  much  less  dangerous ;  and  so 
once  again  the  reunited  party  held  on  its  way. 

Then  here  was  the  Geinig — no  longer  the  pretty  and  pict- 
uresque river  that  he  knew,  but  a  boiling  and  surging  torrent 
sweeping  in  red  wrath  down  its  narrow  and  rocky  channel.  The 
farther  heights,  too,  that  now  came  into  view,  had  lost  their 
wonted  pale  and  ethereal  hues:  there  were  no  soft  cloud-stains 
on  the  purple  slopes  of  heather — a  darkness  dwelt  over  the  land. 
As  he  gradually  got  up  into  that  wilder  country,  the  gloom  grew 
more  intense,  the  desolation  more  awful.  The  roar  of  the  Geinig 
was  lost  now  in  this  dreadful  silence,  lie  seemed  to  have  left 
behind  him  all  human  sympathies  and  associations — to  liave  for- 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 


181 


saken  his  kindred  and  his  kind — to  have  entered  a  strange  world 
peopled  only  with  dark  phantoms  and  moving  shadows  and 
ghosts.  A  voiceless  solitude,  too,  save  for  the  moaning  of  the 
wind  that  came  sweeping  in  bitter  blasts  down  from  the  rainy 
hills.  He  did  not  recognize  the  features  of  this  melancholy 
landscape ;  they  had  all  changed  since  his  last  visit ;  nay,  they 
were  changing  under  his  very  eyes,  as  this  or  that  far  mountain- 
top  receded  behind  a  veil  of  gray,  or  a  shadow  of  greater  dark- 
ness advanced  witli  stealthy  tread  along  one  of  those  lonely 
glens.  There  was  something  threatening  in  the  aspect  of  both 
earth  and  sky  ;  something  louring,  conspiring,  as  if  some  dread 
fate  were  awaiting  this  intruding  stranger ;  at  times  he  fancied 
he  could  hear  low-murmuring  voices,  the  tirst  mutterings  of  dis- 
tant thunder.  What  if  some  red  bolt  of  lightning  were  sudden- 
ly to  sever  this  blackness  in  twain  and  reveal  its  hidden  and 
awful  secrets  ?  But  no  ;  there  was  no  such  friendly  or  aveng- 
ing glare  ;  the  brooding  skies  lay  over  the  sombre  valleys,  and 
the  gloomy  phantasmagoria  slowly  changed  and  changed  in  that 
unearthly  twilight,  as  the  mists  and  the  wind  and  the  rain  trans- 
formed the  solid  hills  and  the  straths  into  intermingling  vapors 
and  visions.  A  spectral  world,  unreal,  and  yet  terrible  ;  appar- 
ently voiceless  and  tenantless  ;  and  yet  somehow  suggesting  that 
there  were  eyes  w-atchiug,  and  vaguely  moving  and  menacing 
shapes  passing  hither  and  thither  before  him  in  the  gloom. 

During  these  last  few  days  he  had  been  assuring  himself  that 
he  would  enter  upon  this  second  stalking  expedition  without 
any  great  tremor.  It  was  only  on  the  first  occasion,  when  every- 
thing was  strange  and  unknown  to  him,  that  he  was  naturally 
nervous.  Even  the  keepers  had  declared  that  the  shooting  of 
the  first  stag  was  everything ;  that  thereafter  he  would  have 
confidence ;  that  he  would  take  the  whole  matter  as  coolly  as 
themselves.  And  yet,  when  they  now  began  to  proceed  more 
warily  (old  Maggie  having  been  hobbled  some  way  back)  and 
when  every  corrie  and  slope  and  plateau  had  to  be  searched 
with  the  glass,  he  found  himself  growing  not  a  little  anxious 
at  the  thought  of  drawing  the  trigger ;  insomuch,  indeed,  that 
those  sombre  fancies  of  the  imagination  went  out  of  his  head 
altogether  and  gave  place  to  the  apprehension  that  on  such  a 
day  it  would  be  difficult  to  make  a  good  shot.  Their  initial 
difficulty,  however,  was  to  find  any  trace  of  the  "  beasts."     The 


182  PRINCE     FORTUNATUS. 

wild  weather  had  most  likely  driven  them  away  from  their  usual 
haunts  into  some  place  of  shelter,  the  smaller  companies  joining 
the  main  herd ;  at  all  events,  up  to  lunch-time  the  stalkers  had 
seen  nothing.  It  was  during  this  brief  rest — in  a  deep  peat- 
hag,  down  which  trickled  a  little  stream  of  rain-water  —  that 
Lionel  discovered  two  things :  first,  that  he  was  wet  to  the  skin, 
and,  second,  that  the  wind  in  these  altitudes  was  of  an  Arctic 
keenness.  So  long  as  he  had  been  kept  going,  he  had  not  paid 
much  attention ;  but  now  this  bitter  blast  seemed  to  pierce  him 
to  the  very  marrow  ;  and  he  began  to  think  that  these  were  very 
pleasant  conditions  for  a  professional  singer  to  be  in — for  a  pro- 
fessional singer  whose  very  existence  depended  on  his  voice. 

"  Here  goes  for  congestion  of  the  lungs,"  he  philosophically 
observed  to  himself,  as  he  shiveringly  munched  his  wet  sand- 
wiches. 

Presently  Roderick  came  along  the  peat-hag, 

"  Would  you  like  to  wait  here,  sir,  for  a  while  ?"  said  he,  in 
his  accustomed  undertone.  "  I'm  thinking  Alec  and  me  will  go 
aweh  up  to  the  top  of  Meall-Breac  and  hef  a  look  round  there ; 
and  if  we  are  seeing  nothing,  we  will  come  back  this  weh  and 
go  down  the  Corrie-nam-Miseag — " 

"  And  I  am  to  wait  here  for  you  ?"  Lionel  exclaimed.  "  Not 
if  I  know  it !  By  the  time  you  come  back,  Roderick,  you  would 
find  me  a  frozen  corpse.  I've  got  to  keep  moving  somehow,  and 
I  may  as  well  go  on  with  you.  I  suppose  I  cannot  have  a  cigar- 
ette before  setting  out  ?" 

"  Aw,  naw,  sir  !"  Roderick  pleaded.  "  In  this  weather,  you 
cannot  say  where  the  deer  may  be — you  may  happen  on  them 
at  any  moment — and  there  will  be  plenty  of  time  for  you  to 
smok  on  the  weh  hom." 

"  Very  well,"  Lionel  said ;  and  he  got  up  and  tried  to  shake 
his  blood  into  freer  circulation  ;  then  he  set  out  with  his  two 
companions  for  the  summit  of  Meall-Breac. 

This  steep  ascent  was  fatiguing  enough  ;  but,  at  all  events,  it 
restored  some  warmth  to  his  body.  He  did  not  go  quite  to  the 
top  ;  he  sat  down  on  a  lichened  stone,  while  Roderick  pro- 
ceeded to  crawl,  inch  by  inch,  until  his  head  and  glass  were  just 
over  the  crest  of  a  certain  knoll.  A  long  scrutiny  followed ; 
then  the  forester  slowly  disappeared — the  gillie  following  in  his 
serpent -like  track;   and   I/ionel   sat   on    in    apathetic   patience. 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  183 

slowly  getting;  chilled  again.  He  asked  himself  what  Nina 
would  say  to  hiiu  if  she  knew  of  these  escapades.  He  held  his 
back  to  the  wind  until  he  was  frozen  that  way ;  then  he  turned 
his  face  to  the  chill  blast,  folding  his  arms  across  his  chest.  He 
took  a  sip  from  Percy  Lestrange's  flask ;  but  that  was  more  for 
employment  than  anything  else,  for  he  discovered  there  was  no 
real  warmth  to  be  got  that  way.  He  thought  Roderick  was 
never  coming  back  from  the  top  of  the  hill.  He  would  have 
started  off  down  the  ascent  again,  but  that  they  might  miss  him  ; 
besides,  he  might  do  something  fatally  wrong.  So  he  sat  on 
this  cold  stone  and  shivered,  and  began  to  think  of  Kensal 
Green. 

Suddenly  he  heard  footsteps  behind  him  ;  he  turned  and  found 
the  two  men  coming  towards  him. 

"  Not  a  sign  of  anything,  sir,"  was  Roderick's  report.  "  It's 
awfu'  dark  and  difficult  to  see,  and  the  clouds  are  down  all 
along  Glen  Bhoideach.  We'll  just  step  along  by  the  Corrie- 
nam-Miseag.  They  very  often  stop  for  a  while  in  the  corrie 
when  they're  crossing  over  to  Achuadruim." 

Lionel  was  not  sorry  to  be  again  in  motion,  and  yet  very 
soon  he  found  that  motion  was  not  an  unmixed  joy ;  for  these 
two  fellows,  who  were  now  going  down  wind  along  the  route 
they  had  come,  and  therefore  walking  fearlessly,  took  enormous- 
ly long  strides  and  held  straight  on,  no  matter  what  sort  of 
ground  they  were  covering.  For  the  sake  of  his  country,  he 
fought  hard  to  keep  up  with  them ;  he  would  not  have  them 
say  they  could  outwalk  an  Englishman  —  and  an  Englishman 
considerably  younger  than  either  of  them ;  but  the  way  those 
two  went  over  this  rough  and  broken  land  was  most  extraor- 
dinary. And  it  seemed  so  easy  ;  they  did  not  appear  to  be 
putting  forth  any  exertion ;  in  spite  of  all  he  could  do,  he  be- 
gan to  lag  a  little ;  and  so  he  thought  he  would  mitigate  their 
ardor  by  engaging  them  in  a  little  conversation. 

"  Roderick,"  said  he,  "  do  you  think  this  neighborhood  was 
ever  inhabited  ?" 

"  Inhabited  ?"  said  Roderick,  turning  in  surprise.  "  Oh,  ay, 
it  was  inhabited  ahlways — by  foxes  and  eagles." 

*'  Xot  by  human  beings  ?" 

"  Well,  they  would  be  ferry  clever  that  could  get  a  living  out 
of  land  like  this,"  Roderick  said,  simply. 


184  PRINCE    F0RTUNATU8. 

•  "  But  they  say  in  the  House  of  Commons  that  the  deer-forests 
are  depriving  a  large  portion  of  the  population  of  a  means  of 
subsistence,"  Lionel  observed  —  rather  breathlessly,  for  these 
long  strides  were  fearful. 

"  Ay,  do  they  say  that  now  ?"  Roderick  made  answer,  with 
much  simplicity.  "  In  the  House  of  Commons  ?  I'm  thinking 
there  is  some  foolish  men  in  the  House  of  Commons.  Mebbe 
they  would  not  like  themselves  to  come  here  and  try  to  get 
their  living  out  of  rocks  and  peat-hags." 

"  But  don't  you  think  there  may  have  been  people  in  these 
parts  before  the  ancient  forests  rotted  down  into  peat?"  Lionel 
again  inquired. 

"  I  do  not  know  about  that,"  Roderick  said,  discreetly ;  per- 
haps he  knew  that  his  opinions  about  prehistoric  man  were  not 
of  great  value. 

But  what  Lionel  discovered  was  that  talking  in  no  wise  inter- 
fered with  the  tremendous  pace  of  tbe  forester ;  and  he  was  just 
on  the  point  of  begging  for  a  respite  from  this  intolerable  ex- 
ertion when  a  change  in  their  direction  caused  both  Roderick 
and  the  gillie  to  proceed  more  circumspectly :  they  were  now 
coming  in  view  of  the  Corrie-nam-Miseag,  and  they  had  to  ap- 
proach with  care,  slinking  along  through  hollows  and  behind 
mounds  and  rocks. 

By  this  time,  it  must  be  confessed,  Lionel  was  thoroughly 
dead-beat :  he  was  wet  through,  icily  cold,  and  miserable  to  the 
verge  of  despair.  The  afternoon  was  well  advanced ;  they  had 
seen  no  sign  of  a  stag  anywhere  ;  the  gloomy  evening  threatened 
to  bring  darkness  on  prematurely  ;  and  but  for  very  shame's 
sake,  he  would  have  entreated  them  to  abandon  this  fruitless 
enterprise,  and  set  out  for  the  far-off  region  of  warmth  and  rea- 
sonable comfort  and  dry  clothes.  And  yet  when  Roderick,  hav- 
ing crawled  up  to  the  top  of  a  small  height,  suddenly  and  eager- 
ly signalled  for  Lionel  to  follow  him,  all  this  hopeless  lassitude 
was  instantly  forgotten,  llis  heart  began  to  burn,  if  his  limbs 
were  deadly  cold ;  and  quickly  he  was  on  the  ground,  too,  mov- 
ing himself  up  alongside  the  keeper.  The  glass  was  given  him, 
but  his  trembling  fingers  could  not  hold  it  straight ;  he  put 
it  down,  and  by  and  by  his  natural  eyes  showed  him  what  he 
thought  were  some  slightly  moving  objects. 

"  There's  two  of  them — two  stags,"  Roderick  whis[»ercd,  "  and 


PKINCE    FORTUNATUS.  185 

we  can  get  at  them  easily  if  there's  no  more  wandering  about 
that  I  cannot  see,  Mcbbc  the  others  are  over  that  hull.  There's 
one  of  them  is  a  fine  big  beast,  but  he  has  only  the  one  horn ; 
the  other  one,  his  head  is  not  ferry  good.  But  a  stag  is  a  stag 
whatever ;  and  the  evening  is  wearing  on.  Now  come  aweh 
with  me,  sir." 

What  Roderick  meant  by  getting  at  them  easily  Lionel  was 
now  to  find  out ;  he  thought  he  would  never  have  done  with 
this  agonizing  stooping  and  crawling  and  wading  through  burns. 
Long  before  they  had  got  to  the  neighborhood  of  the  deer,  he 
wished  heartily  that  the  night  would  come  suddenly  down,  or 
the  stags  take  the  alarm  and  make  off — anything,  so  that  he 
might  be  released  from  this  unspeakable  toil  and  suffering.  And 
yet  he  held  on,  in  a  sort  of  blind,  despairing  fashion ;  the  idea 
in  his  head  being  that  if  nature  gave  way  he  would  simplj'  lie 
down  and  fall  asleep  in  the  heather — whether  to  wake  again  or 
not  he  hardly  cared.  But  by  and  by  he  was  to  have  his  reward. 
Roderick  was  making  for  a  certain  cluster  of  rocks ;  and  when 
these  were  reached,  Lionel  found,  to  his  inexpressible  joy,  not 
only  that  he  was  allowed  to  stand  upright,  but  that  the  stalk 
bad  been  accomplished.  By  peering  over  one  of  the  boulders, 
he  could  see  both  stags  quietly  feeding  at  something  like  seven- 
ty yards'  distance.  It  was  going  to  be  an  easy  shot  in  every 
way ;  himself  in  ample  concealment ;  a  rock  on  which  to  rest 
his  rifle ;  the  deer  without  thought  of  danger.  He  would  take 
his  time  and  calm  down  his  nerves. 

"  Which  one  ?"  he  whispered  to  Roderick. 

"  The  one  with  the  one  horn  is  a  fine  beast,"  the  keeper  whis- 
pered in  return ;  "  and  the  other  one,  his  head  is  worth  nothing 
at  all." 

With  extremest  caution  Lionel  put  the  muzzle  over  the  ledge 
of  the  rock,  and  pushed  it  quietly  forward.  He  made  sure  of 
his  footing.  He  got  hold  of  the  barrel  with  his  left  hand,  and 
of  the  stock  with  his  right ;  he  fixed  the  rifle  firmly  against  ?\is 
shoulder,  and  took  slow  and  steady  aim.  He  was  not  so  ner- 
vous this  time ;  indeed,  everything  was  in  his  favor :  the  stag 
standing  broadside  on  and  hardly  moving,  and  this  rock  offer- 
ing so  convenient  a  rest.  He  held  his  breath  for  a  moment — 
concentrated  all  his  attention  on  the  long,  smooth  barrel — and 
fired. 


186  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  You've  got  him,  sir  !"  exclaimed  Roderick,  in  an  eager  whis- 
per, and  still  keeping  his  head  down  ;  but  seeing  that  the  other 
stag  had  caught  sight  of  the  rifle-smoke  and  was  off  at  the  top 
of  his  speed,  he  rose  from  his  place  of  concealment  and  jumped 
on  to  the  rock  that  had  been  hiding  him. 

"  Ay,  ay,  sir,  he'll  no  go  far,"  he  cried  to  Lionel,  who  was 
scrambling  up  to  the  same  place.  "  There,  he's  down  again  on 
his  knees.  Come  aweh,  sir ;  we'll  go  after  him.  Give  me  the 
rifle." 

Lionel  had  just  time  to  get  a  glimpse  of  the  wounded  stag, 
which  was  stumbling  pitifully  along — far  behind  its  now  disap- 
pearing companion — when  he  had  to  descend  from  the  rock  in 
order  to  follow  Roderick,  All  three  ran  quickly  down  the  hill 
and  rounded  into  the  hollow  where  they  had  last  seen  the  stag, 
following  up  his  track,  and  looking  out  everywhere  for  his  pros- 
trate body.  But  the  farther  they  went,  the  more  amazed  be- 
came Roderick  and  the  gillie ;  there  was  no  sign  of  the  beast 
that  both  of  them  declared  could  not  have  run  a  couple  of  hun- 
dred yards.  The  track  of  him  disappeared  in  the  bed  of  a  burn 
and  could  not  be  recovered,  search  as  they  would ;  so  they  pro- 
ceeded to  explore  every  adjacent  hollow  and  peat-hag,  in  the 
certainty  that  within  a  very  few  minutes  they  nmst  find  the  lost 
quarry.  The  few  minutes  lengthened  out  and  out ;  half-hours 
went  by ;  and  yet  there  was  no  sign.  They  went  away  down 
the  burn ;  they  went  away  up  the  burn ;  they  made  wider 
casts,  and  narrowed  in,  like  so  many  retrievers ;  and  all  to  no 
purpose.  And  meanwhile  darkness  and  the  night  were  com- 
ing on. 

"  He's  lying  dead  somewhere,  as  sure  as  anything  can  be," 
Roderick  said,  looking  entirely  puzzled  and  crestfallen  ;  "  and 
we'll  hef  to  bring  up  a  terrier  in  the  morning  and  search  for 
him.  I  never  sah  the  like  o'  that  in  my  life.  When  he  fell 
where  he  stood  I  made  sure  he  was  feenished ;  then  he  was  up 
again  and  ran  a  little  weh,  and  again  he  went  down  on  his 
knees — " 

"  It  was  then  I  saw  him,"  Lionel  exclaimed,  "  and  I  expected 
him  to  drop  the  next  moment.  Why,  he  must  be  about  here, 
Roderick,  he  couldn't  vanish  into  the  air — he  wasn't  a  ghost — 
for  I  heard  the  thud  of  the  bullet  when  it  struck  him — " 

"Ay,  and  me  too,"  Roderick  said,  "but  we  will  do  no  good 


.^:.e - 


^-.-^    ^*      ^'^^'   ^^ 


"'  There,  he'n  flown  again  on  his  knees.      Come  nweh,  sii- ;  we'll  fjo 
after  htm.'  " 


PKINOE    FORTUNATUS.  187 

now,  for  it  is  getting  so  dark ;  and  you  hcf  to  cross  the  two 
fords,  sir — " 

"  Tlie  fords  !"  said  Lionel.  "  By  Jove  !  I  forgot  tlicm,  I  suy, 
we  must  hurry  on.  I  suppose  you  are  sure  to  tind  him  in  the 
morning?" 

"  We  will  bring  up  a  terrier  whatever,"  Roderick  said,  doubt- 
fully ;  for  he  seemed  to  have  been  entirely  disconcerted  by  the 
disappearance  of  the  phantom  stag.  "  Ay,  I  hef  known  them 
rin  a  long  weh  after  being  wounded — miles  and  miles  they  will 
go — but  this  wan  wass  so  hard  hit,  I  thought  he  would  drop 
directly.  The  teiBe  tek  him — I  could  hef  given  him  the  other 
barrel  myself !" 

And  still  they  seemed  loath  to  leave  the  ground,  notwithstand- 
ing the  gathering  darkness.  They  kept  wandering  about,  exam- 
ining and  searching ;  until  it  was  quite  obvious  that  even  if  the 
stag  were  lying  within  easy  distance  of  them  they  could  hardly 
distinguish  it ;  so  finally  they  withdrew,  beaten  and  baffled,  and 
made  away  down  to  the  lower  country,  where  the  old  pony  Mag- 
gie was  probably  wondering  at  their  unusual  length  of  absence. 

That  was  a  sombre  ride  home.  It  was  now  raining  heavily ; 
and  all  the  night  seemed  to  be  filled  with  a  murmuring  of  streams 
and  a  moaning  of  winds  among  the  invisible  hills.  Roderick 
walked  by  the  pony's  head  ;  and  Lionel  could  just  make  him 
out,  and  no  more,  so  pitch  dark  it  was.  Of  course  he  had  no 
idea  of  the  route  he  was  taking  or  of  the  nature  of  the  ground 
they  were  getting  over ;  but  he  could  guess  from  Maggie's  cau- 
tious steps  when  they  were  going  over  rough  places,  or  he  could 
hear  the  splash  of  her  feet  when  they  were  crossing  a  swamp. 
Not  a  word  was  uttered ;  no  doubt  all  the  forester's  attention 
was  bent  on  making  out  a  path  ;  while  as  for  Lionel,  he  was  too 
wet  and  cold  and  miserable  to  think  of  talking  to  anybody.  If 
he  had  certainly  known  that  somewhere  or  other  he  had  left  up 
there  a  stag,  which  they  could  bring  down  in  the  morning,  that 
would  have  consoled  him  somewhat ;  but  it  was  just  as  likely 
as  not  that  all  this  privation  and  fatigue  had  been  endured  for 
nothing.  As  they  trudged  along  through  the  gloomy  night,  the 
rain  fell  more  heavily  than  ever,  and  the  bitter  wind  seemed  to 
search  out  every  bone  in  his  body. 

And.  then  when  at  length  they  came  within  sound  of  the 
Geinig,  that  was  no  longer  a  friendly  voice  welcoming  them 


ISS  PRINCE    KORTUNATUS. 

back  to  more  familiar  regions ;  it  was  an  angry  and  threatening 
roar ;  he  could  see  nothing ;  he  could  only  imagine  the  wild 
torrent  hurling  along  through  this  black  desolation. 

"  Look  here,  Roderick,"  he  said,  "  mind  you  keep  away  from 
that  river.  If  we  should  stumble  down  one  of  the  steep  banks, 
we  should  never  be  heard  of  again." 

"  Oh,  ay,  we're  a  long  distance  from  the  ruwer ;  and  it  is  as 
well  to  keep  aweh ;  for  if  we  were  to  get  into  the  Geinig  to- 
night, we  would  be  tekken  down  like  straws." 

And  how  welcome  was  the  small  red  ray  that  told  of  the 
shepherd's  cottage  just  below  the  juncture  of  the  Geinig  and 
Aivron !  It  was  a  cheerful  beacon ;  it  spoke  of  human  asso- 
ciation and  companionship ;  the  moan  of  the  hurrying  Aivron 
seemed  to  have  less  of  boding  in  it  now.  It  is  true  they  still 
had  the  two  fords  to  encounter,  and  another  long  and  weary 
tramp,  before  they  got  back  to  the  lodge ;  but  here  at  least  was 
some  assurance  that  they  were  out  of  those  storm-haunted  soli- 
tudes where  the  night  was  now  holding  high  revel.  That  ray 
of  light  streaming  from  the  solitary  little  window  seemed  to 
Lionel  a  blessed  thing;  it  served  to  dissipate  the  horrors  of  this 
murmuring  and  threatening  blackness  all  around  him ;  it  cheered 
and  warmed  his  heart ;  it  was  a  joyful  assurance  that  they  were 
on  the  right  way  for  home.  When  they  reached  the  cottage, 
they  knocked  at  the  door ;  and  presently  there  was  a  delightful, 
ruddy  glow  in  the  midst  of  the  dark.  Would  the  gentleman 
not  come  in  and  warm  himself  at  the  fire  and  get  his  clothes 
dried  ?  No  :  Lionel  said  that  getting  wet  through  once  was  bet- 
ter than  getting  wet  through  twice ;  he  would  go  on  as  he  was. 
But  might  he  have  a  glass  of  milk  ?  The  shepherd  disappeared, 
and  returned  with  a  tumbler  of  milk  and  a  piece  of  oatcake; 
and  never  in  his  life  had  the  famous  baritone  from  the  far  city 
of  London  tasted  anything  sweeter,  for  he  was  half-dead  with 
liungcr.  Greatly  refreshed  by  this  opportune  bit  and  sup,  the 
tired  and  "droukit"  rider  cheerfully  resumed  his  way;  and  it 
was  with  a  stout  heart  that,  after  a  certain  time,  he  found  Rod- 
crick  cautiously  leading  the  pony  down  to  the  water's  edge. 
And  then  a  sudden  thought  struck  him. 

"  Look  here,  Roderick,"  said  he, "  I  suppose  I  can  get  across  this 
ford  safely  enough ;  but  how  on  earth  am  I  to  know  when  I  get 
to  the  next  one  ?     1  can't  see  a  yard  in  front  of  the  pony's  head." 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  Igg 

"  I'm  coming  with  ye,  sir,"  was  the  simple  answer ;  and  at  the 
same  moment  there  was  a  general  splashing  which  told  him  that 
both  Maggie  and  the  tall  keeper  were  in  the  rushing  stream. 

"  Well,  I  suppose  you  can't  be  wetter  than  you  are,"  he  said. 

"Indeed,  that's  true,"  Roderick  answered,  with  much  com- 
posure. 

Now  this  first  ford,  though  a  ticklish  thing  in  the  pitch  dark- 
ness, they  managed  successfully  enough  ;  but  the  next  one  proved 
a  terrible  business.  Roderick  went  by  the  pony's  head,  with  his 
hand  on  the  bridle  ;  but  whether  he  helped  Maggie,  or  whether 
Maggie  helped  him,  it  would  be  hard  to  say.  Lionel  could  only 
guess  what  a  mighty  floundering  there  was  going  on ;  but  Rod- 
erick kept  encouraging  his  four-footed  companion  to  hold  up ; 
and  more  than  once,  when  they  attained  a  safe  footing,  he  called 
a  halt  to  let  the  faithful  Maggie  recover  her  breath. 

*'  Take  your  feet  out  o'  the  stirrups,  sir,"  he  said,  when  tEey 
were  about  half-way  across ;  "  there's  some  nasty  sharp  ledges 
the  other  side,  and  if  she  loses  her  footing  you'll  chist  slip  oflE 
before  she  goes  over;  and  it  will  not  tek  ye  above  the  waist 
whatever,  so  that  you  can  get  ashore  by  yourself." 

AVhen  they  did  reach  those  ledges,  Maggie  seemed  to  under- 
stand the  awkwardness  of  the  situation  quite  as  well  as  he  ;  she 
went  forward  only  an  inch  or  two  at  a  time ;  and  if  her  hind- 
feet  occasionally  skated  a  little,  her  fore -feet  remained  firm 
where  she  had  planted  them.  As  for  Lionel,  he  was,  of  course, 
quite  helpless ;  he  did  not  seek  to  interfere  in  any  way ;  he  was 
metely  ready  to  slip  off  the  saddle  if  Maggie  rolled  over.  But 
presently  a  sudden  red  flash  revealed  to  him  that  they  were  near 
land  (this  was  Alec  striking  a  vesuvian  to  give  them  a  friendly 
lead) ;  there  was  some  further  cautious  sliding  and  stumbling 
forward  ;  then  the  uplifting  of  Maggie's  neck  and  shoulders  told 
him  she  had  gained  solid  ground  and  was  going  up  the  bank. 
Never  w^as  soft  and  sure  footfall  more  welcome. 

The  arrival  of  this  belated  and  bedrenched  little  party  at  the 
lodge  created  no  little  surprise ;  for  it  had  been  concluded  that, 
having  been  led  away  by  a  long  stalk,  or  perhaps  following  a 
wounded  deer  into  unexpected  regions,  and  finding  themselves 
overtaken  by  the  dark,  they  had  struck  across  country  for  the 
Aivron-Bridge  Inn,  to  pass  the  night  there.  However,  Sir  Hugh 
bustled  about  to  have  his  guest  properly  looked  after  ;  and  when 


190  PRINCE    FOKTUNATUS. 

Lionel  had  got  into  dry  clothes  and  swallowed  some  bit  of 
warmed-up  dinner,  he  went  into  the  drawing-room,  where  they 
were  all  of  them  playing  poker — all  of  them,  that  is  to  say,  ex- 
cept Lord  Fareborough,  who,  in  a  big  easy-chair  by  the  fire,  was 
nursing  his  five -and -twenty  ailments,  and  no  doubt  inwardly 
cursing  those  people  for  the  chatter  they  were  keeping  up. 
They  stopped  their  game  when  Lionel  entered,  to  hear  the  news  ; 
and  when  he  had  told  his  heartrending  tale.  Lady  Adela's  brother 
lazily  called  to  her : 

"  I  say,  Addie,  there's  a  chance  for  you  to  try  that  terrier  of 
yours.  If  he's  as  intelligent  as  you  say,  send  him  out  with  the 
gillies  to-morrow,  and  see  if  he  can  find  the  stag  for  them." 

"  Why,  of  course,"  Lady  Adela  instantly  responded.  "  Mr. 
Moore,  I  have  just  become  possessed  of  the  wisest  little  terrier 
in  the  whole  world,  I  do  believe.  He  only  arrived  this  evening ; 
but  he  and  I  have  been  friends  for  a  long  time ;  I  bought  him 
only  yesterday  from  a  shepherd  down  the  strath.  Oh,  I  must 
show  you  the  letter  that  came  with  the  dog.  Georgie,  dear, 
would  you  mind  running  into  my  room  and  bringing  me  a  letter 
you  will  find  on  the  dressing-table  ?" 

Miss  Georgie  was  absent  only  a  couple  of  seconds ;  when  she 
returned  she  handed  Lionel  the  following  epistle,  which  was 
written  on  a  rather  shabby  sheet  of  paper.  Its  contents,  how- 
ever, were  of  independent  value  : 

"  ALTNASHiEr.ACn.     Tuesday  moarning. 
"  Lady  Addela  Cunningham, — 

"  HoNNERD  Lady, — I  am  seiidiii  you  the  terrier  b}'  my  sin  Jeames  that  was 
takking  the  milk  from  Bragla  to  your  ladysliip's  house  the  last  year  wlicn  he 
was  btitten  by  the  red  dog  and  your  hidyship  so  kind  as  to  glv  him  five  shul- 
lins  the  terrier's  name  is  Donacha  bit  lie  will  soon  answer  to  his  English  name 
that  is  Duncan  Honnerd  Lady  you  must  be  kind  to  him  for  lie  will  be  a 
little  shy  the  first  time  he  is  awa  from  home  and  because  he  will  not  under- 
stand your  languish  as  he  was  taught  Gealic  he  got  plenty  of  Blood  on  the 
foxes  he  can  warry  wan  with  himself  alone  let  me  no  how  you  will  be  please 
with  him  and  if  he  is  behaved  and  obadiont  I  will  be  glad  to  have  the  news 
"from  your  ladyship's  humble  servant 

"  Magnus  Ross,  Altnashielach." 

"A  wee  terrier  that  can  worry  a  fox  all  by  himself  must  be  a 
gallant  little  beast,  mustn't  he?"  said  Lady  Adela,  who  seemed 
quite  proud  of  her  new  acquisition.  "  And  I  know  he  will  find 
that  stag  for  you,  Mr.  Moore,  if  he  is  to  be  found  ;  for  Donacha, 
or  Duncan,  is  the  Avisest  little  creature  you  ever  saw.      I  wish  I 


PRINCE    KOHTUNATUS.  191 

could  talk  Gaelic,  just  to  make  him  feel  at  home  the  first  few 
days,"  Then  she  turned  to  her  companions.  "  Who  began  this 
round — Mr.  Lestrange  ?  Very  well,  when  it  comes  to  Sybil,  I 
propose  we  let  you  gentlemen  go  ofiE  to  your  cigars  in  the  gun- 
room ;  for  poor  Mr.  Moore,  I  know,  hasn't  been  allowed  to  smoke 
all  day ;  and  I  am  sure  he  must  be  far  too  tired  to  think  of  play- 
ing poker.     How  many  do  you  want.  Rose  ?" 

When  this  round  of  poker  was  finished,  the  gentlemen  did 
not  seem  to  resent  being  dismissed  to  the  so-called  gun-room, 
where,  round  the  great  blazing  peat  fire,  and  with  cigars  and 
pipes  and  whiskey-and-soda  to  console  them  in  their  banish- 
ment, Lionel  was  called  upon  to  give  them  more  minute  details 
regarding  his  day's  adventures.  And  very  various  were  the 
opinions  expressed  as  to  the  chances  of  that  stag  being  found. 
Some  ominous  stories  were  told  of  the  extraordinary  distances 
deer  were  known  to  have  run  even  when  mortally  wounded ; 
and  there  were  possibilities  suggested  of  his  having  fallen  into 
a  rapid  watercourse  and  been  carried  down  to  the  rushing  river ; 
while  Sir  Hugh  ventured  to  hint  that,  if  he  were  not  found  on 
the  morrow,  the  probability  was  that  some  shepherd,  in  his  re- 
mote and  lonely  shieling  just  outside  the  forest,  would  be  feast- 
ing on  venison  for  a  considerable  time  to  come.  Lionel  cared 
less  now ;  heat  and  food  had  thawed  him  into  a  passive  frame 
of  mind ;  he  was  tired,  worn  out,  and  sleepy  ;  and  very  glad 
was  he  when  he  was  allowed  to  go  to  bed. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  that  magic  one-horned  stag  was  not 
found  on  the  next  day  ;  no,  nor  any  following  day ;  nor  has  it 
ever  been  heard  of  since  in  those  parts.  And  if  it  vanished 
from  the  earth  through  some  evil  enchantment,  be  sure  that 
Lionel — who  had  picked  up  some  of  the  superstitions  of  the 
neighborhood,  and  who  had  profited  on  a  former  occasion  by 
the  possession  of  a  lucky  sixpence — be  sure  he  attributed  his 
cruel  ill-fortune,  solely  and  wholly,  to  that  wretched  red  rag  that 
had  been  given  him  by  Miss  Georgie  Lestrange. 


193  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

A    GLOBE    OF    GOLD-FISH. 

What,  then,  was  the  secret  charm  and  fascination  exercised 
over  him  by  this  extremely  independent,  not  to  say  unapproach- 
able, fisher-maiden;  why  should  he  be  so  anxious  to  win  her 
approval ;  why  should  he  desire  to  be  continually  with  her — even 
when  all  her  attention  was  given  to  her  salmon-line,  and  she  appar- 
ently taking  no  notice  of  him  whatever  ?  She  was  handsome,  no 
doubt,  and  fine-featured  and  pleasant  to  look  upon  ;  she  was  good- 
humored,  and  friendly  in  lier  own  way  ;  and  she  had  the  educa- 
tion and  manners  and  tact  and  gentleness  of  one  of  her  birth 
and  breeding;  but  there  were  lots  of  other  women  similarly 
graced  and  gifted  who  were  only  too  eager  to  welcome  him  and 
pet  him  and  make  much  of  him,  and  towards  whom  he  found 
himself  absolutely  indifferent.  "Was  he  falling  in  love?  Had 
he  been  asked  the  question,  he  would  honestly  have  answered 
that  he  was  about  the  last  person  in  the  world  to  form  a  roman- 
tic attachment.  There  was  no  kind  of  sentimental  wistfulness 
in  his  nature  ;  his  imagination  had  no  poetical  trick  of  investing 
the  face  and  form  of  any  passably  good-looking  girl  with  a  halo 
of  rainbow-hues ;  even  as  a  lad  his  dreams  had  concerned  them- 
selves more  with  the  possibility  of  his  becoming  a  great  musi- 
cian than  with  his  sharing  his  fame  and  glory  with  a  radiant 
bride.  But,  above  all,  the  rhodomontade  of  simulated  passion 
that  he  heard  in  the  theatre,  and  the  extravagance  of  action 
necessary  for  stage  effect,  would  of  themselves  have  tended  to 
render  him  sceptical  and  callous.  He  saw  too  much  of  how  it 
was  done.  Did  ever  any  man  in  his  senses  swear  by  the  eternal 
stars  in  talking  to  a  woman  ;  and  did  ever  any  man  in  his  senses 
kneel  at  a  woman's  feet  ?  In  former  times  they  may  have  done 
so,  when  fustian  and  attitudinizing  were  not  fustian  and  atti- 
tudinizing, but  common  habit  and  practice  ;  but  in  our  own  day 
did  the  love-making  of  the  stage,  with  all   its  frantic  gestures 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  193 

and  wild  appeals,  represent  anything  belonging  to  actual  life  ? 
Of  course,  if  the  question  had  been  pushed  home,  he  would 
have  had  to  admit  that  love  as  a  violent  passion  does  veritably 
exist,  or  otherwise  there  would  not  be  so  many  young  men 
blowing  out  their  brains,  and  young  women  drowning  them- 
selves, out  of  disappointment ;  but  probably  he  would  have 
pointed  out  that  in  these  cases  the  coroner's  jury  invariably  and 
charitably  certify  that  the  victim  is  insane. 

No ;  romance  had  never  been  much  in  his  way,  except  the 
sham  romance  which  he  had  assumed  along  with  a  painted  face 
and  a  stage  costume,  and  of  which  he  knew  the  just  and  accu- 
rate value.  He  had  never  had  time  to  fall  seriously  in  love,  he 
used  to  say  to  Maurice  Mangan.  And  now,  in  this  long  spell  of 
idleness  in  the  North,  amid  these  gracious  surroundings,  if  he 
had  had  to  confess  that  he  found  a  singular  fascination  in  the 
society  of  Honnor  Cunyngham,  why,  he  would  have  discovered 
a  dozen  reasons  and  excuses  rather  than  admit  that  poetical  sen- 
timent had  anything  to  do  with  it.  For  one  thing,  she  was  dif- 
ferent from  any  woman  he  had  ever  met  before ;  and  that  of 
itself  piqued  his  curiosity.  You  had  to  speak  the  downright 
truth  to  her — when  she  looked  at  you  with  those  clear  hazel 
eyes ;  little  make-believes  of  flattery  were  of  no  use  at  all.  Her 
very  tranquillity  and  isolation  were  a  sort  of  challenge ;  her  al- 
most masculine  independence  was  like  to  drive  a  man  to  say, 
"  I  am  as  peremptory  as  she  proud-minded."  Nevertheless,  she 
was  no  curst  Katherine ;  her  temper  was  of  the  serenest ;  she 
was  almost  too  bland  and  placid,  Lionel  thought — it  showed  she 
cared  too  little  about  you  to  be  either  exacting  and  petulant,  or, 
on  the  other  hand,  solicitous  to  please. 

There  came  into  these  silent  and  reverie-haunted  solitudes  a 
letter  from  the  distant  and  turbulent  world  without;  and  of  a 
sudden  Jjionel  felt  himself  transported  back  into  the  theatre 
again,  in  the  midst  of  all  its  struggles  and  hopes  and  anxieties, 
its  jealousies  and  triumphs,  its  ceaseless  clamor  and  unrest. 
The  letter  was  from  Nina. 

"  My  dear  Friend  Leo, — I  have  waited  now  some  time  that  I  send  you  the 
critiques  of  my  new  part,  but  the  great  morning  newspapers  have  taken  no 
notice  of  poor  Nina,  it  is  only  some  of  the  weekly  papers  that  have  observed 
the  change  in  the  part,  and  you  will  see  that  they  are  very  kind  to  me.  Ah, 
but  one — I  do  not  send  it — I  could  not  send  it  to  you,  Leo — it  has  made  me 
crv  much  and  much  that  any  one  should  have  such  malignity,  such  meau- 
9 


194  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

ness,  such  lying.  I  forget  all  the  other  ones  ;  that  one  stabs  my  heart;  but 
Mr.  Carey  he  laughs  and  says  to  me  You  are  foolish  ;  you  do  not  know  why 
that  is  said  of  you  ?  He  is  a  great  ally  of  Miss  Burgoyne,  he  does  not  like 
to  see  you  take  her  place  and  be  well  received  by  the  public.  Perhaps  it  is 
true ;  but,  Leo,  you  do  not  like  to  be  told  that  you  make  the  part  stupid, 
that  there  is  no  life  in  it,  that  you  are  a  machine,  that  you  sing  out  of  tune. 
I  have  asked  Mr.  Lehmann,  I  have  asked  Mr.  Carey,  and  said  to  them  If 
it  is  true,  let  me  go ;  I  will  not  make  ridicule  of  your  theatre.  But  they 
are  so  kind  to  me;  and  Mrs.  Grey  also;  she  says  that  I  have  not  as 
much  cheek  as  Miss  Burgoyne,  but  that  Grace  Mainwaring  should  remember 
that  slie  is  a  gentlewoman,  and  it  is  not  necessary  to  make  her  a  laugh- 
ing waitress,  althougli  she  is  in  comedy-opera.  I  cannot  please  every  one, 
Leo ;  but  if  you  were  here  I  should  not  care  so  much  for  the  briccone,  who 
lies,  who  lies,  who  hides  in  the  dark,  like  a  thief.  You  know  whether  I  sing 
out  of  tune,  Leo.  You  know  whether  I  am  so  stupid,  so  very  stupid.  Yes, 
I  may  not  have  cheek  ;  I  wish  not  to  have  cheek  ;  even  to  commend  myself 
to  a  critic.  Ah,  well,  it  is  no  use  to  be  angry ;  every  night  I  have  a  recep- 
tion that  you  would  like  to  hear,  Leo,  for  you  have  no  jealousy ;  and  my 
heart  says  those  people  are  not  under  bad  influence ;  they  are  honest  in  say- 
ing they  are  pleased;  to  them.  I  sing  not  out  of  tune,  and  am  not  so  very 
stupid.  If  I  lie  awake  at  night,  and  cry  much,  it  is  then  I  say  to  myself  that 
I  am  stupid ;  and  the  next  morning  I  laugh,  when  Mrs.  Grey  says  some  kind 
thing  to  me. 

"  Will  you  be  surprised,  most  excellent  Signor,  if  you  have  a  visit  from 
Miss  Burgoyne?  Yes,  it  is  possible.  The  doctor  says  she  has  strained  lier 
voice  by  too  long  work — but  it  was  a  little  reedij  of  its  own  nature,  do  you  not 
think,  Leo? — and  says  she  must  have  entire  rest,  and  that  she  must  go  to  the 
Isle  of  White ;  but  she  said  every  one  was  going  to  Scotland,  and  why  not  she, 
and  her  two  friends,  her  travelling  companions.  Then  slic  comes  to  mc  and 
ask  your  address.  I  answer — Why  to  me  ?  There  is  Mr.  Lehmann ;  and  at 
the  stage-door  they  will  know  his  address,  for  letters  to  go.  So,  you  see,  you 
will  not  be  alone  in  the  high-lands,  when  you  have  such  a  chatrniuff  visitor  with 
you,  and  she  will  talk  to  you,  not  from  behind  a  fan,  as  on  the  stage,  but  all 
the  day,  and  you  will  have  great  comfort  and  satisfaction.  Yes,  I  see  her 
arrive  at  the  castle.  She  rings  at  the  gate ;  your  noble  friends  come  out,  and 
ask  who  she  is ;  they  discover,  and  drive  away  such  a  person  as  a  poor  can- 
tatrice.  But  you  hear,  you  come  flying  out,  you  rescue  her  from  scorn — ah, 
it  is  pitiable,  they  all  weep,  they  say  to  you  that  you  are  honorable  and  just, 
that  they  did  wrong  to  despise  your  charming  friend.  Perliaps  they  ask  her 
to  dine ;  and  she  sitigs  to  them  after ;  and  Leo  says  to  himself.  Poor  thing ; 
no;  her  voice  is  not  so  reedy.  The  denouement? — but  I  am  not  come  to  it 
yet ;  I  have  not  arranged  what  will  arrive  then. 

"What  is  the  time  of  your  return,  Leo?  And  you  know  what  will  be 
then?  You  will  find  on  the  stage  another  Grace  Mainwaring,  who  will  sing 
always  out  of  tune,  and  be  so  stupid  that  you  will  have  fury  and  will  com- 
plain to  the  Manager.  Ah,  there  is  now  no  one  to  speak  with  you  from  bc- 
liind  a  fan — only  a  dull  heavy  stupid.  Misera  me  !  What  shall  I  do?  All  the 
poetry  departed  from  Harry  Tliornliiirs  singing — there  is  no  more  fascination 


PRINCE    FOKTUNATUS.  195 

for  him — lie  looks  up  to  the  window — he  sings  'The  starry  night  brings  me  no 
rest' — and  he  says  '  Bother  to  that  stupid  Italian  girl ! — why  am  I  to  sing  to 
her?'  Poor  Leo,  he  will  be  disconsolate;  but  not  for  long.  No;  Miss  Bur- 
goyne  will  be  coming  back ;  and  then  he  will  have  some  one  for  to  talk  with 
from  behind  the  fan. 

"  Now,  Leo,  if  you  can  read  any  more,  I  must  attend  to  what  you  call 
beesness.  When  Miss  Burgoyne  returns,  I  do  not  go  back  to  be  under-study 
to  Miss  Girond — no — Mr.  Lehmann  has  said  he  is.  pleased  with  me,  and  I  am 
to  take  the  part  of  Miss  Considinc,  who  goes  into  the  provincial  company. 
You  know  it  is  almost  the  same  consequence  as  Grace  Mainwaring  towards  the 
public,  and  I  am,  oh,  very  proud  of  such  an  advancement ;  and  I  have  writ- 
ten to  Pandiani,  and  to  Uarmela  and  Andrea,  and  Mrs.  Grey  is  kinder  than 
ever,  and  I  take  lessons  always  and  always,  when  she  has  a  half-hour  from 
the  house-governing.  I  am  letter  perfect — is  it  what  they  say? — in  this  part 
as  in  the  other;  my  bad  English  does  not  appear  on  the  stage;  I  practise 
and  practise  always.  I  am  to  share  in  Miss  Girond's  room,  and  that  will  be 
good,  for  she  is  friendly  to  me,  though  sometimes  a  little  saucy  in  her  amuse- 
ment. Already  I  hear  that  the  theatre-attendant  people  are  coming  back — 
and  you  ' — when  is  your  return  ?  You  had  benevolence  to  the  poor  chorus- 
singer,  Signor  Leo ;  and  now  she  is  prima-doinia  do  you  think  she  will  forget 
you  ?  No,  no !  To-day  I  was  going  up  Regent  Street,  and  in  a  window  be- 
hold !  a  portrait  of  Mr.  Lionel  Moore  and  a  portrait  of  Miss  Antonia  Ross 
side  by  side !  I  laughed — I  said,  Leo  did  not  look  to  this  a  short  time  ago. 
It  is  the  same  fotografer ;  I  have  had  several  requests ;  but  only  to  that  one 
I  went,  for  it  is  the  best  one  of  you  he  has  taken  that  is  seen  anywhere.  Of 
course  I  have  to  dress  as  like  Miss  Burgoyne  as  possible,  which  is  a  pity  to 
me,  for  it  is  not  too  graceful,  as  I  think  I  could  do ;  but  I  complain  nothing, 
since  Mr.  Lehmann  gave  me  the  great  advancement ;  and  if  you  will  look  at 
the  critiques  you  will  see  they  say  I  have  not  a  bad  appearance  in  the  part. 
As  for  the  briccone — pah ! — when  I  talk  like  this  to  you,  Leo,  I  despise  him 
— he  is  nothing  to  me — I  would  not  pay  twopence  that  he  should  praise'me. 

"  Will  you  write  to  me,  Leo,  and  say  when  you  return  ?  Have  you  so 
much  beesness  that  you  have  only  sent  me  one  letter  ?     Adieu ! 

"  Your  true  friend,  Nina." 

Well,  this  prattling  letter  from  Nina  caused  him  some  reflec- 
tion and  some  uneasy  qualms.  He  did  not  so  much  mind  the 
prospect  of  having,  on  his  return,  to  transform  his  old  friend 
and  comrade  into  his  stage-sweetheart,  and  to  make  passionate 
love  to  her  every  evening  before  an  audience.  That  might  be 
a  little  embarrassing  at  first ;  but  the  feeling  would  soon  wear 
ofE ;  such  circumstances  were  common  and  well  understood  in 
the  theatre,  where  stage-lovers  cease  their  cooing  the  moment 
they  withdraw  into  the  wings.  But  this  other  possibility  of 
finding  Miss  Burgoyne  and  her  friends  in  the  immediate  neigh- 
borhood of  Strathaivron  Lodge  ?     Of  course  there  was  no  reason 


196  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

why  she  shouldn't  travel  through  Ross-shire  just  as  well  as  any 
one  else.  She  knew  his  address.  If  she  came  anywhere  round 
this  way — say  to  Kilfearn — he  must  needs  go  to  call  on  her. 
Then  both  Lady  Adela  Cunyngham  and  Lord  Rockminster  had 
heen  introduced  to  Miss  Burgoyne  in  the  New  Theatre ;  if  he 
told  them,  as  he  ought,  on  whom  he  was  going  to  call,  might 
they  not  want  to  accompany  him  and  renew  the  acquaintance  ? 
Lady  Adela  and  her  sisters  considered  themselves  the  naturally 
appointed  patrons  of  all  professional  folk  whose  names  figured 
in  the  papers ;  was  it  not  highly  probable  that  Miss  Burgoyne 
and  her  friends,  whosoever  these  might  be,  would  receive  an  in- 
vitation to  Strathaivron  Lodge  ?  And  then  ? — why,  then  might 
there  not  be  rather  too  close  a  resemblance  to  a  band  of  poor 
players  being  entertained  by  the  great  people  at  what  Nina  im- 
agined to  be  a  castle  ?  A  solitary  guest  was  all  very  well ;  had 
Miss  Burgoyne  preceded  or  succeeded  him,  he  could  not  have 
objected  ;  but  a  group  of  strolling  players,  as  it  were  ? — might 
it  not  look  as  if  they  had  been  summoned  to  amuse  the  noble 
company  ?  And  fancy  Miss  Burgoyne  coming  in  as  a  spy  upon 
his  mute,  and  at  present  quite  indefinite,  relations  with  Miss 
Honnor  Cunyngham  ! — Miss  Burgoyne,  who  was  a  remarkably 
sharp-eyed  young  woman,  and  had  a  clever  and  merry  tongue 
withal,  when  she  was  disposed  to  be  humorous. 

Then  he  bethought  him  of  what  Honnor  Cunyngham,  with 
her  firm  independence  of  character,  her  proud  self-reliance, 
would  have  said  to  all  these  timorous  fancies.  He  knew  per- 
fectly well  what  she  would  say.  She  would  say,  "  Well,  but 
even  if  Miss  Burgoyne  were  to  appear  at  Strathaivron  Lodge, 
how  could  that  affect  you  ?  You  are  yourself ;  you  are  apart 
from  her;  her  visit  will  be  Lady  Adela's  doing,  not  yours.  And 
if  people  choose  to  regard  you  as  one  of  a  band  of  strolling 
players,  how  can  that  harm  you  ?  Why  should  you  care  ?  The 
opinion  that  is  of  value  to  you  is  your  own  opinion  ;  be  right 
with  yourself ;  and  leave  others  to  think  what  they  please. 
Whoever  could  so  entirely  misjudge  your  position  must  be  a 
fool ;  why  should  you  pause  for  a  moment  to  consider  the  opin- 
ion of  a  fool  or  any  number  of  fools?  'To  thine  own  self  be 
true ;'  and  let  that  suftice." 

For  he  had  come  to  know  pretty  accurately,  during  those  fre- 
quent if  intcrmittont  talks  and  chats  along  ihc  Aivron   l)anks, 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 


197 


how  Miss  Honnor  would  regard  most  things.  The  wild  weath- 
er had  been  succeeded  by  a  period  of  calm ;  the  river  had  dwin- 
dled and  dwindled,  until  it  seemed  merely  to  creep  along  its 
channel ;  where  a  rushing  brown  current  had  come  down  there 
now  appeared  long  banks  of  stones,  lilac  and  silver-gray  and  pur- 
ple, basking  in  the  sun  ;  while  half-way  across  the  stream  in 
many  places  the  yellow  sand  and  shingle  shone  through  the  laz- 
ily rippling  shallows.  Consequently  there  was  little  fishing  to 
be  done,  Honnor  Cunyngham  went  out  all  the  same,  for  she 
loved  the  river-side  in  all  weathers ;  and  as  often  as  he  discreet- 
ly might,  Lionel  accompanied  her;  but  as  they  had  frequently 
to  wait  for  half -hours  together  until  a  cloud  should  come  over, 
he  had  ample  opportunity  of  learning  her  views  and  opinions  on 
a  great  variety  of  subjects.  For  she  spoke  freely  and  frankly 
and  simply  in  this  enforced  idleness ;  and,  from  just  a  little 
touch  here  and  there,  Lionel  began  to  think  that  she  must  have 
a  good  deal  more  of  womanly  tenderness  and  sympathy  than  he 
had  given  her  credit  for.  Certainly  she  was  always  most  con- 
siderate towards  himself ;  she  seemed  to  understand  that  he  was 
a  little  sensitive  on  the  score  of  his  out-of-door  performances ; 
and  w^hile  she  made  light  of  his  occasional  blunders,  she  would 
quietly  hint  to  him  that  he  in  turn  ought  to  exercise  a  generous 
judgment  when  those  people  at  the  Lodge  ventured  to  enter  a 
province  in  which  he  was  a  past  master. 

"  We  are  all  amateurs  in  something  or  another,  Mr.  Moore," 
she  would  say.  "  And  the  professionals  should  not  treat  us 
■with  scorn." 

"I  wonder  in  what  you  show  yourself  an  amateur,"  said  he, 
bethinking  himself  how  she  seemed  to  keep  aloof  from  the 
music,  art,  and  literature  of  her  accomplished  sisters-in-law. 
"  Everything  you  do  you  do  thoroughly  well." 

She  laughed. 

"  You  have  never  seen  me  try  to  do  anything  but  cast  a  line," 
said  she, "  and  if  I  can  manage  that,  the  credit  rests  with  old 
Robert." 

But  the  consideration  that  she  invariably  extended  to  her 
brother's  guest  was  about  to  show  itself  in  a  very  marked  man- 
ner ;  and  the  incident  arose  in  this  wise.  One  morning,  the 
weather  being  much  too  bright  and  clear  for  the  shallower  pools 
of  the  Aivron,  they   thought  they   would  take  luncheon   with 


198  PRINCE    F0RTUNATU8. 

them,  and  stroll  up  to  the  Geinig,  where,  in  the  afternoon,  the 
deeper  pools  might  give  them  a  chance,  especially  if  a  few  clouds 
were  to  come  over.  Accordingly  the  three  of  them  went  away 
along  the  valley,  passed  over  the  Bad  Step,  meandered  through 
the  long  birch  wood,  and  finally  arrived  at  the  little  dell  above 
the  Geinig  Pool,  which  was  Miss  Honnor's  favorite  retreat. 
They  had  left  somewhat  late  ;  the  sun  was  shining  from  a  cloud- 
less sky  ;  luncheon  would  pass  the  useless  time  ;  so  Robert  got 
the  small  parcels  and  the  drinking-cups  out  of  the  bag,  and  ar- 
ranged them  on  the  warm  turf.  It  was  a  modest  little  banquet, 
but  in  the  happiest  circumstances ;  for  the  birch  branches  above 
them  afforded  them  a  picturesque  shelter  ;  and  the  burn  at  their 
feet,  attenuated  as  it  was,  and  merely  threading  its  way  down 
through  the  stones,  flashed  diamonds  here  and  there  in  the  light. 
And  then  she  was  so  kind  as  to  thank  him  again  for  singing 
"  The  Bonnie  Earl  o'  Moray  " — which  had  considerably  astounded 
the  people  assembled  at  the  opening  of  the  Kilfearn  Public  Hall, 
OT,  at  least,  such  of  them  as  did  not  know  that  a  great  singer 
was  among  the  guests  at  Strathaivron  Lodge. 

"  I  was  rather  sorry  for  them  who  had  to  follow  you,"  she 
said;  "they  must  have  felt  it  was  hardly  fair.  It  was  like 
Donald  Dinnie  at  the  Highland  Games  :  when  he  has  thrown  the 
hammer  or  tossed  the  caber,  the  spectator  hardly  takes  notice 
of  the  next  competitor.  By  the  way,  I  suppose  you  will  be  go- 
ing to  the  Northern  meeting  at  the  end  of  this  month  ?" 

"  I  am  sorry  I  cannot  stay  so  long,  though  Lady  Adela  was 
good  enough  to  ask  me,"  he  made  answer.  "  I  must  go  south 
very  soon  now." 

"  Oh,  indeed  ?"  she  said.  "  That  is  a  pity.  It  is  worth  while 
being  in  Inverness  then ;  you  see  all  the  different  families  and 
tlieir  guests ;  and  the  balls  are  picturesque — with  the  kilt  and 
tartan.  It  is  really  the  wind-up  of  the  season  ;  the  parties  break 
up  after  that.  We  come  back  here  and  remain  until  about  the 
middle  of  October;  then  we  go  on  to  the  Braes — worse  luck 
for  me.  I  like  the  rough-and-tumble  of  this  place;  the  absence 
of  ceremony ;  tlie  freedom  and  the  solitude.  It  will  be  very 
different  at  the  Braes." 

"  Why  shouldn't  you  stop  on  here,  then  ?"  he  naturally  asked. 

"  All  by  myself  ?"  she  said.  "  Well,  I  shouldn't  mind  the 
loneliness — you  sec,  old  Robert  is  left  hero,  and  Roderick,  too, 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS,  199 

and  one  or  two  of  the  girls  to  keep  fires  on  ;  but  1  should  liave 
nothing  to  do  but  read ;  the  tishiug  is  useless  long  before  that 
time.     And  so  you  are  going  away  quite  soon  ?" 

"  Yes,"  said  he,  and  he  paused  for  a  second — for  there  was 
some  wild  wish  in  his  heart  that  she  would  have  just  one  word 
of  regret.  "  I  must  go,"  he  continued,  seeing  that  she  did  not 
speak.  "  I  am  wanted.  And  I  have  had  a  long  holiday — a  long 
and  delightful  holiday  ;  and  I'm  sure,  when  I  look  back  over  it, 
I  can't  thank  you  sufficiently  for  all  your  kindness  to  me." 

"  Thank  me,  Mr.  Moore  ?"  she  said,  with  obvious  surprise. 

"  Oh,  yes,  indeed,"  he  said,  warmly.  "  If  it  was  only  a  word 
now  and  again,  it  was  always  encouragement.  I  should  never 
have  ventured  out  after  the  deer  if  it  had  not  been  for  you ; 
probably  I  should  never  have  taken  up  a  gun  at  all.  Then  all 
those  delightful  days  by  the  river;  haven't  I  to  thank  you  for 
them  ?  It  seems  rather  hard  that  I  should  be  so  much  indebted 
to  you — " 

"  I  am  sure  you  are  not  at  all,"  she  said. 

" — without  a  chance  of  ever  being  able  to  show  my  grati- 
tude ;  repayment,  of  course,  is  out  of  the  question,  for  we  could 
never  meet  again  in  similar  circumstances — in  reversed  circum- 
stances, rather — I  mean,  you  have  had  it  all  your  own  way  in 
your — your  toleration,  shall  I  say  ? — or  your  commiseration,  of 
a  hopeless  duffer.  Oh,  I  know  what  I'm  talking  about.  Most 
people  in  your  position  would  have  said,  '  Well,  let  him  go  and 
make  a  fool  of  himself !'  and  most  people  in  my  position  would 
have  said,  '  No,  I'm  not  going  to  make  a  fool  of  myself.' " 

*'  I  don't  quite  understand,"  she  said,  simply,  "  why  you  should 
care  so  much  for  the  opinion  of  other  people." 

*'  I  suppose  there  is  no  chance  of  my  ever  seeing  you  in  Lon- 
don, Miss  Honnor,"  he  continued,  rather  breathlessly.  "  If — if 
I  might  presume  on  the  acquaintanceship  formed  up  here,  I 
should  like — w^ell,  I  should  like  to  show  you  I  had  not  forgotten 
your  kindness.  Do  you  ever  come  to  London  ? — I  think  Miss 
Lestrange  said  you  sometimes  did." 

"  Why,  I  am  in  London  a  great  part  of  every  year  !"  she  said. 
"  And  this  winter  I  shall  be  next  door  to  it ;  for  my  mother 
goes  to  Brighton  in  November;  and  she  will  want  me  to  be 
with  her." 

"  To  Brighton  !"  he   said,  quickly   and  eagerly.     "  Then,  of 


200  PRINCE    FOKTUNATUS. 

course,  you  would  be  in  London  sometimes.  Would  you — would 
you  care  to  come  behind  the  scenes  of  a  theatre  ? — or  be  present 
at  a  dress  rehearsal,  or  something  of  that  kind  ?  No,  I'm  afraid 
not — I'm  afraid  that  wouldn't  interest  you — " 

"  Oh,  but  it  would,"  she  said,  pleasantly  enough.  "  It  would 
interest  me  very  much." 

And  perhaps  he  would  have  gone  on  to  assure  her  how  de- 
lighted he  would  be  to  have  the  opportunity  of  showing  her,  in 
the  great  capital,  that  he  had  not  forgotten  her  kindness  and 
help  in  these  Northern  wilds,  but  that  Miss  Honnor,  seeing  that 
their  frugal  meal  was  over,  called  for  Robert.  The  handsome 
old  fisherman  appeared  at  once ;  but  she  instantly  perceived  by 
his  face  that  something  was  wrong. 

"  This  is  ferry  strange,  Miss  Honnor,"  said  he, "  that  the  fly -book 
is  not  in  the  bag.  And  I  could  not  have  dropped  it  out.  I  was 
not  thinking  of  looking  for  it  when  we  started,  for  I  knew  I  had 
put  it  there — " 

"  Oh,  I  know,  Robert,"  she  said  at  once.  "  Mr.  Lcstrange 
asked  me  this  morning  for  some  small  Durham  Rangers ;  and  I 
told  him  to  go  and  take  them  out  of  the  book.  So  he  has  taken 
the  book  out  of  the  bag  and  stupidly  forgot  to  put  it  back." 

"  Then  I  will  go  aweh  down  to  the  Lodge  and  get  it,"  Robert 
suggested. 

"  Is  it  worth  while  ?"  she  said.  "  There  is  a  fly  on  the  casting- 
line  ;  and  there  won't  be  much  fishing  this  afternoon." 

"  I  am  not  so  sure,"  old  Robert  made  answer.  "  There  might 
be  some  clouds  ;  and  it  is  safer  to  hef  the  book  whatever." 

"  Very  well,"  said  she.  "  And  in  that  case  I  will  take  Mr. 
Moore  over  to  the  other  side  of  the  Geinig  Pool,  and  ask  him  to 
creep  out  on  the  middle  rock,  and  perhaps  he  will  see  some- 
thing.    Will  there  be  any  gold-fish  in  the  globe,  Robert  ?" 

Old  Robert  grinned. 

"Oh,  yes.  Miss  Honnor,  the  fish  will  be  there,  but  there  is 
little  chance  of  your  getting  one  out." 

"  At  any  rate,  Mr.  Moore  will  be  pleased  to  see  a  globe  of  gold- 
fish in  the  middle  of  a  Highland  moor,"  she  said ;  and,  when 
Robert  had  picked  up  the  luncheon  things,  they  all  set  off  down 
the  Geinig  valley  together. 

l»iit  when  they  reached  a  certain  wooden  foot-bridge  across 
the  stream,  Robert  held  on  his  way,  making  for  the  Lodge,  while 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  201 

Lionel,  well  content  and  asking  no  questions,  followed  the  young 
lady.  She  led  the  way  across  the  bridge  and  along  the  opposite 
bank  until  they  reached  the  Geinig  Pool,  where  they  scrambled 
down  to  the  side  of  the  river  just  above  the  falls.  Here  she 
showed  him  how  to  step  from  one  boulder  to  another,  until  he 
found  himself  on  a  huge  gray  rock  right  in  the  middle ;  and 
forthwith  she  directed  him  to  crawl  out  to  the  edge  of  the  rock, 
and  just  put  his  head  over,  and  see  what  he  could  see.  As  for 
crawling,  he  considered  himself  quite  an  adept  at  that  now ;  in 
an  instant  he  was  down  on  hands  and  knees,  making  his  way 
out  to  the  end  of  the  rock.  And  certainly  what  he  beheld  when 
he  cautiously  peered  over  the  edge  was  worth  all  the  trouble. 
Here,  in  an  almost  circular  pool,  apparently  of  great  depth,  the 
surface  of  the  water  was  as  smooth  as  glass  ;  for  the  bulk  of  the 
stream  tumbled  in  and  tumbled  out  again  along  the  southern 
side,  leaving  this  dark  hole  in  an  eddy  ;  and  the  sunlight,  strik- 
ing down  into  the  translucent  depths,  revealed  to  him  certain 
slowly  moving  forms  which  he  recognized  at  once  as  salmon. 
They  were  not  like  salmon  in  color,  to  be  sure ;  through  the 
dun  water  their  purplish-blue  backs  showed  a  dull  olive-green  ; 
but  salmon  they  undoubtedly  were,  and  of  a  good  size,  too.  Of 
course  he  was  immensely  excited  by  such  a  novel  sight.  With 
intensest  curiosity  he  watched  them  making  their  slow  circles  of 
the  pool,  exactly  like  gold-fish  in  a  globe.  They  seemed  to  be 
about  four  or  five  feet  under  the  surface.  Was  it  not  possible 
to  snatch  at  one  of  them  with  a  long  gaff  ?  Or  was  it  not  pos- 
sible, on  the  other  hand,  to  tempt  one  of  them  with  a  fly ! 

He  slowly  withdrew  his  head. 

"  That  is  most  extraordinary,"  he  called  to  his  companion, 
who  was  standing  a  few  yards  farther  back.  "  Miss  Honnor, 
won't  you  put  a  fly  over  them  ?" 

"  What  is  the  use,"  said  she.  "  They  will  look  at  it,  but  they 
won't  take  it ;  and  I  don't  think  it  is  well  they  should  know  too 
much  about  the  patterns  that  Mr.  Watson  dresses.  They  know 
quite  enough  already.  Some  of  the  old  hands,  I  do  believe,  are 
familiar  with  every  fly  made  in  Inverness." 

"  Won't  you  try  ?"  he  pleaded. 

"  Well,  if  you  would  like  to  see  them  look  at  a  fly,  I'll  put  it 
over  them,"  she  said,  good-naturedly,  "  but,  you  know,  it  is  most 
demoralizing." 
9* 


20:i  PRINCE    FORTUNATIS. 

So  she,  also,  had  to  creep  out  to  the  edge  of  the  rock ;  and 
then  she  cautiously  put  out  the  rod  and  the  short  line  she  had 
previously  prepared.  She  threw  the  fly  to  the  opposite  side  of 
the  pool,  let  it  sink  an  inch  or  two,  and  then  quietly  jerked  it 
across  until  it  came  jn  the  way  of  the  slow-circling  salmon.  To 
her  it  was  merely  an  amusement,  but  to  Lionel  it  was  a  breath- 
less excitement,  to  watch  one  after  another  of  those  big  fish,  in 
passing,  come  up  to  look  at  this  beautiful,  gleaming,  shrimp-like 
object  and  then  sink  down  again  and  go  on  its  round.  They 
would  not  come  within  two  feet  of  this  tempting  lure.  She  tried 
them  in  all  parts  of  the  pool,  sinking  the  fly  well  into  the  plung- 
ing fall,  and  letting  it  be  carried  right  to  the  other  side  before 
she  dragged  it  across  the  clear  open. 

"Won't  one  of  you  take  it?"  she  said.  "It's  as  pretty  a  fly 
as  ever  was  dressed,  though  they  do  call  it  the  Dirty  Yellow." 

But  all  of  a  sudden  the  circumstances  were  changed  in  a  most 
startling  manner.  A  swift,  half-seen  creature  came  darting  up 
from  out  of  the  plunging  torrent,  shot  into  the  clear  water, 
snatched  at  the  small  object  that  was  floating  there,  and  down 
went  fly  and  rod  until  the  top  was  almost  touching  the  surface. 
The  reel  had  caught  in  her  dress,  somehow.  But  in  another 
second  all  that  was  altered — she  had  got  the  reel  free — she  was 
up  on  her  feet — the  line  was  singing  out — the  rod  raised,  with 
the  pliant  top  yielding  to  every  movement  of  the  fish — and  Lionel, 
quite  bewildered  by  the  rapidity  of  the  whole  occurrence,  won- 
dering what  he  could  do  to  assist  her.  Miss  Honnor,  however, 
was  quite  competent  to  look  after  herself. 

"Who  could  have  expected  that?"  she  said,  as  the  salmon 
went  away  down  into  the  deep  pool,  and  deliberately  sulked 
there.  "  I  wasn't  fishing,  I  was  only  playing ;  and  he  very  nearly 
broke  me  at  the  first  plunge.  Really,  it  all  happened  so  quickly 
that  I  could  not  see  what  size  he  was ;  could  you,  Mr,  Moore  V 

"  Not  I !"  he  answered.  "  The  creature  came  out  of  the  rough 
water  like  a  flash  of  lightning — I  only  saw  the  splash  his  tail 
made  as  he  went  down  again.  But  what  are  you  going  to  do, 
Miss  llonnor  ?  Shall  I  run  down  the  strath  and  tell  old  Robert 
to  hurry  back  ?" 

"  Not  at  all ! — we'll  manage  him  by  ourselves,"  she  replied, 
confidently.     "  Here,  you  take  him,  and  I'll  gaff  him  for  you." 

"  I  will  do  nothing  of  the  kind,"  said  he,  distinctly.     "  You 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  203 

have  given  me  too  many  of  your  fish.  You  have  been  far  too 
generous  all  the  way  through.  No ;  I  will  gaff  him  for  you — 
but  you  must  tell  me  how — for  I  never  tried  before." 

"  Oh,  it  is  simple  enough,"  she  said.  "  You've  seen  old  Rob- 
ert gaff  plenty  of  fish.  Only  mind  you  don't  strike  across  the 
casting-line.  Get  behind  the  casting-line — about  half-way  down 
the  fish — get  well  over  him — and  then  a  sharp,  bold  stroke  will 
fetch  him  out." 

Accordingly,  armed  with  the  gaff,  Lionel  made  his  way  down 
to  the  lowest  ridge  of  the  rock,  so  that  he  found  himself  just 
over  the  black-brown  pool.  And,  indeed,  his  services  were  called 
upon  much  sooner  than  he  had  expected  ;  for  the  salmon,  grown 
tired  of  sulking,  now  began  to  swim  slowly  round  and  round,  some- 
times coming  up  so  that  they  could  just  catch  a  glimmer  of  him, 
and  again  disappearing.  But  the  fortunate  thing  for  them  was 
that  there  were  no  shallows  to  frighten  the  fish ;  he  knew  noth- 
ing of  his  danger  as  he  happened  to  come  sailing  round  Lionel's 
way  ;  and  he  was  gradually  coming  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  sur- 
face, until  they  could  watch  his  every  motion  as  he  made  his 
slow  rounds.  Once  or  twice  Lionel  tried  to  get  the  gaff  over 
him,  and  had  to  withdraw  it ;  but  at  last  Miss  Honnor  called  out, 

"  This  next  time,  Mr.  Moore,  as  he  comes  round  to  you,  I  will 
lift  him  a  bit ;  be  ready  !" 

But  what  was  this  amazing  thing  that  happened  all  in  one  wild 
second  ?  Lionel  struck  at  the  fish,  pinned  him  securely,  dragged 
him  out  of  the  water,  and  then,  to  his  horror,  found  that  the  un- 
expected weight  of  this  fighting  and  struggling  creature  was  prov- 
ing too  much  for  him — he  was  overbalanced — he  could  not  re- 
cover himself — down  they  all  went  together — himself,  the  gaff, 
and  the  salmon — into  the  still,  deep  pool !  As  for  him,  that 
was  nothing ;  he  could  swim  a  little ;  a  few  strokes  took  him  to 
the  other  side,  where  he  clambered  on  to  the  rocks ;  he  managed 
to  recover  his  cap ;  and  then,  with  the  deepest  mortification  in 
his  soul,  he  made  his  way  back  to  rejoin  his  companion.  "What 
apology  could  he  offer  for  his  unheard-of  bungling  and  stupidity  ? 
Would  she  not  look  on  him  as  an  unendurable  ass  ?  Why  had 
he  chosen  so  insecure  a  foothold  and  made  such  a  furious  plunge 
at  the  fish  ?     Over-eagerness,  no  doubt — 

And  then  the  next  moment  he  noticed  that  her  rod  was  still 
curved ! 


204  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  We'll  get  liim  yet,  Mr.  Moore  !"  she  called  to  liim,  in  the 
most  goocl-huraored  fashion.  "  Come  out  on  to  the  rock,  and 
you'll  see  the  strangest-looking  salmon  you  ever  saw  in  your 
life." 

x\nd,  indeed,  that  was  an  odd  sight — the  big  fish  slowly  sailing 
round  and  round  the  pool,  with  the  gaff  still  attached  and  the 
handle  floating  parallel  with  its  side. 

"  It  will  take  some  time,  though,"  said  she.  "  I  think  you'd 
better  go  away  home  and  get  dry  clothes  on.  I'll  manage  him 
by  myself." 

"  I  dare  say  you  would  manage  him  better  by  yourself  than 
with  any  help  of  mine,"  he  said,  in  his  bitter  chagrin  and  self- 
contempt.     "  I  made  sure  I  had  lost  you  the  salmon." 

"  And  what  then  ?"  she  said,  with  some  surprise.  "  I  assure 
you  it  wasn't  the  salmon  I  was  thinking  of  when  I  saw  you  in  the 
water — but  the  moment  you  struck  out  I  knew  you  were  safe." 

He  did  not  speak  any  more  ;  he  was  too  humiliated  and  vexed. 
It  is  true  that  when,  at  length,  the  salmon,  entirely  dead  beat, 
suffered  himself  to  be  led  in  to  the  side  of  the  rock,  Lionel  man- 
aged to  seize  the  handle  of  the  gaff,  and  this  time,  making  sure 
of  his  foothold,  got  the  fish  on  land  ;  but  this  final  success  in  no 
way  atoned  for  his  having  so  desperately  made  a  fool  of  himself. 
In  silence  he  affixed  the  bit  of  string  she  gave  him  to  the  head 
and  tail  of  this  very  pretty  twelve-pounder;  and  m  silence  they 
set  out,  he  carrying  the  salmon  and  she  the  rod  over  her  shoulder. 

"  It  will  be  a  surprise  for  old  Robert  when  we  meet  him,"  she 
said,  cheerfully.  "  But  he  will  wonder  how  you  came  to  be  so 
drenched." 

"  Yes,"  said  he,  "  it  will  be  a  pretty  story  of  tomfoolery  for 
them  all  to  hear.  I  should  like  to  make  a  comic  drawing  of  it, 
if  I  could.  It  would  have  done  capitally  for  John  Leech,  among 
the  exploits  of  Mr.  Eriggs." 

She  glanced  at  him  curiously.  She  knew  what  lie  was  think- 
ing of — of  the  tale  that  would  be  told  among  the  keepers  and 
the  gillies  of  his  having  soused  himself  into  the  Geinig  Pool  in 
trying  to  gaff  a  fish.  And  might  not  the  story  find  its  way 
from  the  kennels  into  the  gun-room,  and  thence  into  the  draw- 
ing-room ? 

There  was  no  doubt  he  was  thoroughly  ashamed  and  crest- 
fallen, and  angry  with  himself;  and  though  slie  talked  and  chat- 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  205 

ted  just  as  usual,  he  was  quite  taciturn  all  the  way  down  the  side 
of  the  Geinig.     They  reached  the  Junction  Pool. 

"  Come  now,  Mr.  Moore,"  she  said,  with  the  utmost  good- 
nature, "you  make  too  much  of  that  little  mistake.  You  are 
far  too  afraid  of  ridicule.  But  I  am  going  to  put  it  all  right 
for  you." 

What  was  liis  astonishment  and  consternation  to  see  her,  after 
she  had  laid  her  rod  on  the  shingle,  deliberately  walk  a  yard  or 
two  into  the  shallow  water,  and  then  throw  herself  down  into  it 
for  a  second,  while  she  held  out  her  hand  to  him. 

"  Pull  me  out,  Mr.  Moore  !"  she  said. 

"  Good  heavens.  Miss  Honnor  !"  he  exclaimed — but  instantly 
he  caught  her  hand,  and  she  rose  to  her  feet  and  began  to  shake 
the  water  from  her  as  best  she  might.     "  What  do  you  mean  ?" 

"  You've  pulled  me  out  of  the  river,"  said  she,  laughing,  as 
she  shook  her  dripping  sleeves  and  kicked  her  skirts ;  and  then 
she  went  on,  coolly,  to  explain.  "  I  know  you  are  rather  sensitive 
to  ridicule,  and  you  don't  like  to  think  of  those  people  telling 
the  story  against  you  as  to  how  you  fell  into  the  Geinig  Pool. 
Very  well ;  there  needn't  be  any  such  story.  If  any  one  asks 
you  how  you  came  to  be  so  wet,  you  can  say  I  got  into  the  wa- 
ter, and  you  pulled  me  out.     It  will  sound  quite  heroic." 

"  So  I  am  to  have  the  credit  of  having  saved  your  life  ?"  he 
said. 

"  You  needn't  put  it  that  way,"  she  answered,  as  she  took 
up  the  fishing-rod  and  resumed  her  homeward  walk.  "  All  kinds 
of  accidents  are  continually  happening  to  pooiile  who  go  salmon- 
fishing,  and  no  one  takes  any  notice  of  them.  My  maid  is  quite 
used  to  getting  my  things  dried — whether  they're  soaked  througb 
with  rain  or  with  river-water  doesn't  much  matter  to  her.  And 
old  Robert  can  take  your  clothes  to  the  fire  in  the  gun-room  long 
before  the  gentlemen  come  back  from  the  hill.  So,  you  see,  there 
will  probably  be  no  questions  asked  ;  but,  if  there  should  be,  you 
have  what  is  quite  enough  of  an  explanation." 

"  Well,  Miss  Honnor,"  said  he,  "  I  never  heard  of  sucli  a 
friendly  act  in  all  my  life — such  a  gratuitous  sacrifice  ;  here  you 
have  risked  getting  your  death  of  cold  in  order  to  save  my  child- 
ish vanity  from  being  wounded.  Really,  I  don't  know  how  to 
thank  you — though  I  wish  all  the  same  you  had  not  put  me  un- 
der such  a  tremendous  obligation.     But  don't  ima2:ine  that  I  am 


206  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

going  to  claim — that  I  am  going  to  steal — the  credit  of  having 
saved  your  life — I  am  not  quite  so  mean — no,  if  I  am  asked,  I 
will  tell  the  whole  truth — " 

"  And  make  two  people  ridiculous,  instead  of  one  ?"  she  said, 
with  a  smile.     "  No,  you  can't  do  that." 

However,  as  it  turned  out,  this  Quixotic  act  of  consideration 
was  allowed  to  remain  a  dark  secret  between  these  two.  With 
the  brisk  walking  and  the  warm,  sunlit  air  around  them,  their 
clothes  were  already  drying ;  and  when  old  Robert  met  them,  in 
the  dusky  chasm  at  the  foot  of  the  Bad  Step,  he  was  far  too 
much  engaged  with  the  fish  to  notice  their  limp  and  damp  gar- 
ments ;  while  again,  as  they  resumed  their  march,  he,  carrying 
the  fish,  lagged  in  the  rear,  and  thus  they  escaped  his  keen  eyes. 
Indeed,  by  the  time  they  reached  the  Lodge,  and  as  Miss  Honnor 
was  about  to  enter,  Lionel  said  to  her  that  he  felt  quite  warm 
and  comfortable,  and  proposed  to  go  for  a  further  walk  down 
the  strath  before  dinner ;  but  she  peremptorily  forbade  this  and 
ordered  him  off  to  his  own  room  to  get  a  change  of  clothes. 

It  is  not  to  be  imagined  that  an  incident  of  this  kind  could 
do  aught  but  sink  deep  into  the  mind  of  any  young  man,  and 
especially  into  the  mind  of  a  young  man  who  had  particular 
reasons  for  wanting  to  know  how  this  young  lady  was  affected 
towards  him.  She  herself  had  made  light  of  the  matter ;  it  had 
been  merely  a  sudden  impulse,  born  of  her  own  abundant  good- 
nature ;  probably  she  would  have  done  as  much  for  Percy  Le- 
strange.  But  ivould  she  have  done  as  much  for  Percy  Lestrange? 
Lionel  kept  asking  hiniself.  He  was  vain  enough  to  think  she 
would  not.  Who  had  been  her  protege  all  this  time  ?  To  whom 
had  she  given  unobtrusive  little  hints  when  she  thought  these 
might  be  useful?  In  whose  exploits  and  triumphs  and  failures 
had  she  shown  an  exceptional  interest  and  sympathy  ?  Whom 
liad  she  permitted  to  go  fishing  with  her  on  those  long  days 
when  the  world  seemed  to  belong  to  the  two  of  them  ?  Whom 
had  she  admitted  into  the  little  dell  above  the  Geinig  Pool  which 
was  her  chosen  and  solitary  retreat?  And  he  could  not  but  re- 
flect that  while  there  were  plenty  of  women  who  were  eager  to 
present  him  with  silver  cigarette-cases,  blue  and  white  flower- 
jars,  and  things  of  that  kind,  there  was  not  one  of  them,  as  he 
believed,  who  would  dip  her  little  finger  in  a  bottle  of  ink  for 
liis  sake.     More  than  that,  which  of  them  would  herself  have 


PRIN'CE    FORTUNATIS.  207 

dared  ridicule  in  order  to  save  him  from  ridicule  ?  And  in 
what  light  should  he  regard  this  suddenly  prompted  action  on 
her  part,  which  seemed  to  him  so  bewildering  at  the  time,  but 
which  she  appeared  to  look  on  as  only  a  sort  of  half-humorous 
freak  of  friendship  ? 

These  speculations  only  came  back  to  the  original  question, 
or  series  of  questions,  that  had  already  puzzled  him.  Why 
should  he  set  such  store  by  her  opinion  ? — why  be  so  anxious  to 
please  her  ? — why  be  so  proud  to  think  that  he  had  won  some 
small  share  of  favorable  regard  ?  It  was  not  his  ordinary  atti- 
tude towards  women,  who  troubled  him  rather,  and  interfered 
with  his  many  interests  and  the  calls  of  his  professional  duties. 
Falling  in  love  ? — that  could  hardly  be  it ;  he  felt  no  desire  what- 
ever to  go  down  on  his  knees  before  her  and  swear  by  the  eter- 
nal stars.  Besides,  she  was  so  far  away  from  him — living  in 
such  a  different  sphere — among  occupations  and  surroundings 
and  traditions  entirely  apart  from  his.  Falling  in  love  ? — with 
the  isolated,  the  unapproachable  fisher-maiden,  the  glance  of 
whose  calm  hazel  eyes  would  be  death  to  any  kind  of  theatrical 
sentiment  ?  It  was  all  a  confusion  and  a  perplexity  to  him  ;  but 
at  least  he  was  glad  to  know  that  he  would  sit  at  the  same  table 
with  her  that  night  at  dinner,  and,  thereafter,  perchance,  have 
some  opportunity  of  talking  to  her  in  the  drawing-room,  where 
a  certain  incident,  known  to  themselves  alone,  would  serve  as  a 
sort  of  secret  tie.  And  he  was  cheered  to  remember  that,  al- 
though he  was  leaving  this  still  and  beautiful  neighborhood 
(where  so  many  strange  dreams  and  fancies  and  new  and  wel- 
come experiences  had  befallen  him),  he  was  not  bidding  good- 
bye to  all  of  these  friends  forever.  Miss  Ilonnor  Cunyngham 
would  be  in  Brighton  in  November  ;  and  Brighton  was  not  so 
far  away  from  the  great  city  and  the  dull,  continuous,  thunder- 
ous roar  that  would  then  be  all  around  him. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

A     NEW     EXPERIENCE. 


Was  it  possible  in  the  nature  of  things  that  Prince  Fortunatus 
should  find  his  spirits  dashed  with  gloom — he  whose  existence 


OQS  PRINCE    FORTUNATIS. 

had  hitherto  been  a  long  series  of  golden  moments,  each  brighter 
and  more  welcome  than  the  other  ?  Even  if  he  had  to  leave  this 
still  and  beautiful  valley  where  he  had  found  so  much  gracious 
companionship  and  so  many  pleasant  pursuits,  look  what  was  be- 
fore him ;  he  was  returning  to  be  greeted  with  the  applause  of 
enthusiastic  audiences,  to  be  sought  after  and  courted  and  petted 
in  private  circles,  to  find  himself  talked  about  in  the  newspa- 
pers, and  his  portraits  exhibited  in  every  other  shop-window — 
in  short,  to  enjoy  all  the  little  flatteries  and  attentions  and 
triumphs  attaching  to  a  wide  and  not  ill-deserved  popularity. 
And  yet  as  he  sat  at  this  farewell  luncheon  on  the  day  of  his 
departure,  he  was  the  only  silent  one  among  these  friends  of 
his,  who  were  all  chattering  around  him. 

"  I'm  sure  I  envy  you,  Mr.  Moore,"  said  his  charming  hostess, 
"  going  away  back  to  the  very  centre  of  the  intellectual  world. 
It  will  be  such  a  change  for  you  to  find  yourself  in  the  very 
midst  of  everything — hearing  about  all  that  is  going  on — the 
new  books,  the  new  plays,  the  new  pictures.  I  suppose  that  in 
October  there  are  plenty  of  pleasant  people  back  in  town  ;  and 
perhaps  the  dinner-parties  are  all  the  more  enjoyable  when  you 
know  that  the  number  of  nice  people  is  limited.  One  really 
does  get  tired  of  this  mental  stagnation." 

"  I  wish,  Mr.  Moore,"  said  Lady  Rosamund,  rather  spitefully 
(considering  that  her  brother  was  present),  "  you  would  take 
Rockminster  with  you.  He  won't  go  on  the  hill,  and  he's  no 
use  in  the  drawing-room.  I  am  certain  at  this  minute  he  would 
rather  be  walking  down  St.  James  Street  to  his  club." 

"  I  don't  wonder  at  it !"  cried  Mis§  Georgie  Lestrange,  coming 
gallantly  to  the  apathetic  young  man's  rescue.  "  Look  how  he's 
situated.  There's  Sir  Hugh  and  my  brother  away  all  day  ;  Lord 
Fareborough  has  never  come  out  of  his  room  since  the  morning 
he  tried  deer-stalking ;  and  what  can  Lord  Rockminster  find  to 
amuse  him  in  a  pack  of  girls  ?  Oh,  I  know  what  he  thinks  of 
us,"  she  continued,  very  placidly.  "  I  remember,  if  he  chooses 
to  forget.  Don't  you  recollect.  Rose,  the  night  we  were  con- 
structing an  ideal  kingdom  by  drawing  up  a  list  of  all  the  jjeople 
we  should  have  banished  ?  Every  one  had  his  or  her  turn  at 
saying  who  should  be  expelled — people  who  come  late  to  dinner, 
people  who  fence  with  spiked  wire,  people  who  talk  in  theatres, 
people  who  say  '  like  he  does,'  and  so  forth  ;  and  when  some- 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  309 

body  suggested  'all  young  women  who  wear  red  veils,'  Lord 
Rockminster  immediately  added,  '  and  all  young  women  who 
don't  wear  red  veils.'     Now  you  needn't  deny  it." 

"  Excuse  me,  I'm  sure  I  never  said  anything  of  the  kind  ;  but 
it's  not  of  the  least  consequence,"  Lord  Rockminster  observed, 
with  perfect  composure.  "  Anything  to  please  you  poor  dears. 
You  understand  well  enough  why  I  linger  on  here — just  to  give 
you  young  creatures  a  chance  of  sharpening  your  wits  on  me. 
You  wouldn't  know  what  to  do  without  me." 

"  Rockminster  is  going  to  give  the  world  a  volume  of  poems," 
said  Lady  Rosamund,  who  seemed  to  be  rather  ill-tempered  and 
scornful  this  morning.  "  Nobody  could  stare  at  the  clouds  and 
hills  as  he  does  without  being  a  poet.  When  he  does  burst  into 
speech  it  will  be  something  awful." 

"  Have  you  your  flask  filled  ?"  said  that  much-bepestered 
young  man,  calmly  turning  to  Lionel. 

"  Oh,  yes,  thanks." 

"  When  you  get  to  Invershin,"  his  lordship  continued,  thought- 
fully, ''  you  can  telegraph  to  the  Station  Hotel  at  Inverness  what 
you  want  for  dinner.  No  soup ;  I  make  it  a  rule  never  to  take 
soup  in  a  big  hotel ;  a  friendly  manager  once  warned  me  in  con- 
fidence. You'll  be  glad  to  have  a  bit  of  white  fish  after  so  much 
grilse  and  sea-trout." 

"  Oh,  I'll  take  ray  chance,"  Lionel  said ;  it  was  not  dinner 
that  was  occupying  his  thoughts. 

There  was  a  sound  of  horses'  hoofs  and  carriage  wheels ;  the 
wagonette  was  being  brought  round  to  the  front  door. 

"  I  consider  it  very  shabby  of  Honnor  not  to  have  stayed  to 
say  good-bye,"  Lady  Adela  said  to  her  departing  guest.  "  She 
might  have  given  up  one  morning's  fishing,  I  think,  especially 
as  you  have  been  such  an  assiduous  attendant — carrying  her 
things  for  her,  and  keeping  her  company  on  those  long  ex- 
cursions— " 

"  Oh,  don't  be  afraid,"  said  Miss  Georgie,  with  a  bit  of  a  cov- 
ert laugh.  "  Honnor  won't  forsake  her  friend  like  that.  I'll 
bet  you  she  won't  be  far  from  the  Horse's  Drink  when  Mr. 
Moore  has  to  cross  the  stream." 

"  If  I  were  you,"  Lord  Rockminster  finally  said,  in  a  confi- 
dential undertone,  as  they  all  rose  from  the  table,  "  I  would 
telegraph  about  dinner." 


210  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

How  Lionel  hated  the  sight  of  this  open  door,  and  the  wag- 
onette, and  the  portmanteau  up  beside  the  coachman  ! 

"  Good-bye,  Mr.  Moore,"  said  the  pleasant-mannered  young 
matron  to  him,  as  she  took  his  hand  for  a  moment.  "  I'm  afraid 
it  has  been  awfully  dull  for  you — " 

"  Lady  Adela !"  he  said. 

"  But  the  next  time  you  come  we  shall  try  to  be  less  monoto- 
nously bucolic.  Perhaps  by  then  the  phonograph  will  be  able 
to  bring  us  a  whole  musical  evening  from  London,  whenever  we 
want  it — a  whole  performance  of  an  operetta — " 

"  Offenbach  in  a  Highland  valley  !"  he  exclaimed. 

"  No,"  she  said,  very  quietly  and  graciously ;  "  but  perhaps 
something  by  the  composer  of  '  The  Squire's  Daughter ' — and 
there  might  be  in  it  an  air  as  delightful  as  that  of  '  The  Starry 
Night.'  Oh,  Mr.  Moore,  don't  let  them  produce  any  other  piece 
at  the  New  Theatre  until  we  all  get  back  to  London  again  !  Well, 
good-bye — it's  so  kind  of  you  to  have  taken  pity  on  us  in  this 
wilderness — " 

"  If  you  knew  how  sorry  I  am  to  go,  Lady  Adela !"  he  said. 
"  And  will  you  say  good-bye  for  me  to  Miss  Cunyngham  ?" 

"  You  needn't  bother  to  leave  a  message,"  said  Miss  Georgie, 
with  significant  eyes.  "  You'll  find  she  won't  be  far  away  from 
the  Horse's  Drink." 

And  as  it  chanced,  Miss  Georgie's  forecast  (whether  inspired 
by  a  saucy  impertinence  or  not)  proved' correct.  Lionel,  having 
bade  farewell  to  all  these  friends,  got  into  the  wagonette ;  and 
away  the  carriage  went — quietly,  at  first,  over  the  soft  turf  and 
stones — to  the  river.  Of  course  he  looked  out.  Yes,  there  was 
Miss  Ilonnor — fishing  the  Whirl  Pool — with  old  Robert  sitting 
on  the  shingle  watching  her.  Would  she  notice  ? — or  would 
he  get  down  and  walk  along  to  her  and  claim  the  good-bye  she 
had  forgotten  ?  The  next  moment  he  was  reassured.  She  caught 
sight  of  the  approaching  wagonette ;  she  carefully  placed  her 
rod  on  the  shingle,  and  then  came  walking  along  tlic  river-bank, 
towards  the  ford,  at  which  the  horses  had  now  arrived. 

Even  at  a  distance  he  could  not  but  admire  the  grace  and  ease 
and  dignity  of  her  carriage — the  harmonious  movement  of  a 
perfectly  formed  figure ;  and  as  she  drew  nearer  he  kept  asking 
himself  (as  if  the  question  were  necessary)  whether  he  would  be 
able  to  take  away  a  keen  mentul  jilioiograph  of  those  fine  features 


55 


g? 


i5 —     ,-^  ^^^^z:^--?^''^^,:;. 


a, 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  o^i 

— the  clear  and  placid  forehead,  the  stronglj'  marked  eyebrows, 
the  calm,  self-reliant  eyes,  the  proud  and  yet  not  unsympathetic 
lines  of  the  mouth.  She  came  nearer ;  a  smile  lit  up  her  face  ; 
and  there  was  a  kind  of  radiance  there,  he  thought.  He  had 
leaped  down  from  the  wagonette  ;  he  went  forward  to  meet  her  ; 
her  hand  was  outstretched. 

*'  I  am  sorry  you  are  going,"  she  said,  frankly. 

"  And  I  am  far  more  sorry  to  have  to  go,"  said  he,  and  he 
held  her  hand  a  little  longer  than  there  was  any  occasion  for, 
until  she  gently  withdrew  it.  "  There  are  so  many  things  I 
should  like  to  say  to  you,  Miss  Ilonnor ;  hut  somehow  they  al- 
ways escape  you  just  when  they're  wanted ;  and  I've  told  you 
so  often  before  that  I  am  not  likely  to  forget  your  kindness  to 
me  up  here — " 

"  Surely  it  is  the  other  way  about !"  she  said,  pleasantly.  "You 
have  come  and  cheered  up  my  lonely  hours — and  been  so  patient 
— never  grumbled — never  looked  away  up  the  hill  as  if  you 
would  have  given  your  life  to  be  after  the  grouse ;  and  in  the 
drawing-room  of  an  evening  you've  always  sung  when  I  asked 
you — when  I  was  inconsiderate  enough  to  ask  you — " 

"  My  goodness  !  Miss  Honnor,"  he  said,  "  if  I  had  known  you 
looked  on  it  in  that  light,  I  should  have  sung  for  you  constantly, 
whether  you  asked  or  not." 

"  Well,  it's  all  over  now,"  said  she,  "  and  I  hope  you  are  tak- 
ing away  with  you  a  pleasant  memory  of  Strathaivron." 

"  I  have  spent  the  happiest  days  of  my  life  here,"  he  said ; 
and  then  he  hesitated — was  about  to  speak — hesitated  again — 
and  finally  blurted  out,  "Is  there  anything  I  can  do  for  you  in 
London,  Miss  Honnor?" 

"  No,  thanks,"  she  said.  "  By  the  way,  you'll  have  an  hour 
or  two  in  Inverness.  You  might  go  in  to  Mr.  Watson's  and  ask 
him  to  send  me  out  a  few  more  flics — if  you  have  plenty  of  time, 
that  is." 

"I  shall  be  delighted,"  said  he,  as  if  she  had  conferred  the 
greatest  favor  on  him. 

"  Well,  good-bye — I  mustn't  keep  you  late  for  the  train." 

"  But  we  shall  meet  in  the  South  ?" 

"  I  hope  so,"  she  said,  in  a  very  amiable  and  friendly  fashion  ; 
and  she  stood  waiting  there  until  he  had  got  into  the  wagonette, 
and  until  the  horses  had  splashed  their  way  across  the  ford ; 


213  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

then  she  waved  her  hand  to  him,  and,  with  a  parting  smile, 
turned  down  the  stream  again,  to  rejoin  Robert  and  pick  np  her 
rod. 

Nor  was  this  quite  the  last  he  was  to  see  of  those  good  friends. 
"When  the  horses  had  strenuously  hauled  the  carriage  up  that 
steep  hillside  and  got  into  the  level  highway,  he  turned  to  look 
back  at  the  Lodge,  set  in  the  midst  of  the  wide  strath,  and  be- 
hold !  there  was  a  fluttering  of  white  handkerchiefs  there.  Lady 
Adela  and  her  sisters  and  Miss  Georgie  still  lingering  in  the 
porch.  Again  and  again  he  made  response.  Then,  as  he  drove 
on,  he  caught  another  glance  of  Miss  Honnor,  who,  far  below  him, 
was  industriously  fishing  the  Whirl  Pool ;  when  she  heard  the 
sound  of  the  wheels,  she  looked  up  and  waved  her  hand  to  him 
as  he  went  by.  Finally  there  came  the  crack  of  a  gun  across 
the  wide  strath  ;  it  was  a  signal  from  the  shooting-party — away 
on  a  distant  hillside-;— and  he  could  just  make  out  that  they, 
also,  were  sending  him  a  telegraphic  good-bye.  At  each  open- 
ing through  the  birch-wood  skirting  the  road  he  answered  these 
farewells,  until  Strathaivron  Lodge  was  no  longer  in  sight ;  and 
then  he  settled  liimself  in  his  seat  and  resigned  himself  to  the 
long  journey. 

This  was  not  a  pleasant  drive.  He  was  depressed  with  a 
vague  aching  and  emptiness  of  the  heart  that  he  could  not  well 
account  for.  A  schoolboy  returning  to  his  tasks  after  a  long 
holiday  would  not  be  quite  so  profoundly  miserable — so  reckless, 
dissatisfied,  and  ill  at  ease.  But  perhaps  it  was  the  loss  of  one 
of  those  pleasant  companions  that  was  troubling  him  ?  Which 
one,  then  (he  made  pretence  of  asking  himself),  was  he  sorriest 
to  part  from  ?  Lady  Adela,  who  was  always  so  bright  and  talk- 
ative and  cheerful,  so  charming  a  hostess,  so  considerate  and 
gjntle  a  friend?  Or  the  mystic-eyed  Lady  Sybil,  who  many 
an  evening  had  led  him  away  into  the  wonder-land  of  Chopin, 
for  she  was  an  accomplished  pianist,  if  her  own  compositions 
were  but  feeble  echoes  of  the  masters  ?  Or  the  more  quick- 
spirited  Lady  Rosamund,  the  imperious  and  petulant  beauty, 
who,  in  a  way  most  unwonted  with  her,  had  bestowed  upon  him 
exceptional  favor  ?  Or  that  atrocious  little  flirt.  Miss  Georgie 
Lestrange,  with  her  saucy  smiles  and  speeches,  her  malicious 
laugh,  and  demure, significant  eyes? — it  was  hardly  to  be  won- 
dered at  if  she  made  an  impression  on  any  young  man,  for  the 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  213 

minx  had  an  abundance  of  good  looks,  despite  her  ruddy  hair 
and  pert  nose.  As  for  Miss  Honnor  Cunyngham — oh,  no  ! — 
she  was  too  far  away — she  lived  remote,  isolated,  apart — she 
neither  gave  nor  demanded  sympathy  or  society — she  was  suffi- 
cient unto  herself  alone.  But  why  ask  whether  it  were  this  one  or 
that?  Soon  he  would  be  forgotten  by  them  all.  He  would  be 
swallowed  up  in  the  great  city — swept  away  in  the  current  of  its 
feverish  activities — his  voice  hardly  heard  above  the  general  din  ; 
while  they  would  still  be  pursuing  their  various  pastimes  in  this 
little  world  of  solitude  and  quiet,  or  moving  on  to  entertain 
their  friends  with  the  more  pompous  festivities  of  the  Braes. 

It  was  odd  that  he  should  be  carrying  away  with  him  the 
seeds  of  homesickness  for  a  place  in  which  his  stay  had  been 
counted  by  weeks.  So  anxious,  indeed,  was  he  to  assure  him- 
self that  his  relations  with  that  beautiful  valley  and  its  inmates 
were  not  entirely  severed  that,  the  moment  he  reached  Inverness, 
instead  of  going  into  the  Station  Hotel  and  ordering  his  dinner 
like  a  reasonable  being,  he  must  needs  go  straightway  off  to  Mr. 
Watson's  shop. 

"  I  suppose,"  said  he,  with  a  little  hesitation — for  he  did  not 
know  whether  to  mention  Miss  Cunyngham's  name  or  not — he 
was  afraid  he  might  betray  some  quite  uncalled-for  embarrass- 
ment— "  I  suppose  you  know  the  flies  they  use  on  the  Aivron 
this  time  of  year." 

Mr.  Watson  knew  well  enough;  who  better? 

"  I  mean  on  the  Strathaivron  Lodge  stretch  of  the  water  ?" 
Lionel  continued. 

"  Oh,  yes ;  I  am  often  sending  flies  to  Miss  Cunyngham," 
was  the  answer. 

"  Oh,  Miss  Cunyngham  ?"  said  Lionel.  "  It  is  for  her  I  want 
some  flies." 

"  Very  well,  sir,  I  will  make  up  a  small  packet,  and  send  it  to 
her ;  Miss  Cunyngham  has  an  account  with  me — " 

"  No,  no,  that  isn't  what  I  mea;i  at  all,"  Lionel  interposed, 
hastily.  "  I  want  to  make  Miss  Cunyngham  a  little  present. 
The  fact  is,  I  was  using  her  book,"  he  observed,  with  some  im- 
portance (as  if  it  could  in  the  least  concern  a  worthy  tackle- 
maker  in  Inverness  to  know  who  had  gone  fishing  with  Miss 
Cunyngham),  "and  I  whipped  off  a  good  number,  so  I  want  to 
make  amends,  don't  you  see  ?" 


214  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  Very  well,  sir ;  how  many  will  I  put  up  ?" 

"  All  you've  got,"  was  the  prompt  reply. 

Mr,  Watson  stared. 

"  Oh,  yes,"  Lionel  said.  "  Miss  Cunynghara  may  as  well  have 
a  good  stock  at  once.  You  know  the  proper  kinds — Blue  Doc- 
tors, Childerses,  Jock  Scotts,  Dirty  Yellows,  Bishops,  Bees — 
that's  about  it,  isn't  it? — and  put  in  plenty  of  various  sizes. 
Then  don't  make  a  parcel  of  them  ;  put  them  into  those  japanned 
boxes  with  the  cork  in  them — never  mind  how  many ;  and  if 
you  can't  tell  me  at  once  how  much  it  will  all  come  to,  I  will 
leave  you  my  London  address,  and  you'll  send  the  bill  to  me. 
Now  if  you  will  be  so  kind  as  to  give  me  a  sheet  of  paper  and 
an  envelope,  I  will  write  a  note  to  accompany  the  packet," 

Mr,  Watson  probably  thought  that  this  young  man  was  daft, 
but  it  was  not  his  business  to  say  so ;  he  took  down  his  erratic 
customer's  address  and  said  that  all  his  instructions  would  be 
attended  to  forthwith. 

Next  Lionel  went  to  a  tobacconist's  shop,  and  (for  he  was  a 
most  lavish  young  man)  he  ordered  a  prodigious  quantity  of 
"  twist,"  which  he  had  made  up  into  two  parcels,  the  smaller 
one  for  Roderick,  the  larger  to  be  divided  equally  among  the 
other  keepers  and  gillies.  The  two  parcels  he  had  put  into  a 
wooden  case,  which,  again,  was  filled  up  with  boxes  of  vesuvians, 
three  or  four  dozen  or  so ;  and  it  is  to  be  imagined  that  when 
that  small  hamper  was  opened  at  Strathaivron  there  was  many 
a  chuckle  of  gratification  over  the  division  of  the  splendid  spoil. 

Finally — for  human  nature  is  but  human  nature  after  all ;  he 
had  been  thinking  of  others  so  far,  and  he  was  now  entitled  to 
consider  himself  a  little — he  thought  he  would  go  along  to  Mr. 
Macleay's.  When  he  arrived  at  the  shop,  he  glanced  in  at  the 
windows;  but  among  the  wild-cats,  ptarmigan,  black  game, mal- 
lards, and  what  not,  there  was  nothing  to  arrest  his  attention ; 
it  was  a  stag's  head  he  had  in  his  mind.  He  went  inside,  and 
his  first  sensation  was  one  of  absolute  bewilderment.  This 
crowded  museum  of  birds,  beasts,  and  fish — skarts,  goosanders, 
sand-grouse,  terns,  eagles,  ospreys,  squirrels,  foxes,  big-snouted 
trout,  harts,  hinds,  bucks,  does,  owls,  kestrels,  falcons,  merlins,  and 
every  variety  of  the  common  gull  shot  by  the  all-pervading 
Cockney — staring,  stuflFed,  silent,  they  were  a  confusion  to  the 
eyes,  and  nowhere  could  he  find  his  own,  his  particular,  his  pre- 


PRINCE   FORTUNATUS.  215 

cious  stag.  Alas!  when  Mr.  Macleay  was  so  kind  as  to  take  him 
behind  into  the  workshop — which  resembled  a  huge  shambles, 
almost — and  when,  from  among  the  vast  number  of  heads  and 
horns  lying  and  hanging  everywhere  around,  the  Strathaivron 
head  was  at  last  produced,  Lionel  was  horribly  shocked  and  dis- 
appointed. Was  this,  then,  his  trophy  that  he  hoped  to  have 
hung  up  for  the  admiration  of  his  friends  and  his  own  ecstatic 
contemplation — this  twisted,  shapeless,  sightless  lump  of  hide 
and  hair,  with  a  great  jaw  of  discolored  teeth  gleaming  from 
under  its  flabby  folds?  It  is  true  that  here  were  the  identical 
horns,  for  had  he  not  gone  lovingly  over  every  tine  of  them  ? — 
but  was  this  rag  of  a  thing  all  that  was  left  of  the  splendid  stag 
he  had  beheld  lying  on  the  heather?  However,  Mr.  Macleay 
speedily  reassured  him.  He  w^as  shown  the  v^arious  processes 
and  stages  of  the  taxidermist's  art,  the  amorphous  mass  of  skin 
and  hair  gradually  taking  shape  and  substance  until  it  stood 
forth  in  all  its  glory  of  flaming  eye  and  proud  nostril  and  branch- 
ing antlers;  and  he  was  highly  pleased  to  be  told  that  this 
head  he  had  got  in  Strathaivron  was  a  fairly  good  one,  as  stags 
now  go  in  the  Xorth.  So,  all  his  shopping  being  done,  he  set 
off  again  for  the  Station  Hotel,  where  he  got  what  he  wanted  in 
the  shape  of  dinner,  followed  by  a  long  and  meditative  smoke 
in  the  billiard-room,  with  visions  appearing  among  the  curls  of 
blue  vapor. 

What  the  Highland  Railway  manages  to  do  with  the  trains 
which  it  despatches  from  Inverness  at  10  p.m.  and  reproduces 
the  next  morning  at  Perth  about  7,  it  is  impossible  for  the  mind 
of  man  to  imagine ;  but  it  is  not  of  much  consequence  so  long 
as  you  are  snugly  ensconced  in  a  sleeping-berth ;  and  Lionel 
passed  the  night  in  profound  oblivion.  With  the  new  day, 
however,  these  unavailing  and  torturing  regrets  began  again  ; 
for  now  he  felt  himself  more  completely  than  before  shut  off 
from  the  friends  he  had  left ;  and  Strathaivron  and  all  its  asso- 
ciations and  pursuits  had  grown  distant  like  a  dream.  He  was 
lucky  enough,  on  this  southward  journey,  to  get  a  compartment 
to  himself ;  and  here  was  an  excellent  opportunity  for  him  to 
have  practised  his  vocalises;  but  it  was  not  of  vocalises,  nor  of 
anything  connected  with  the  theatre,  that  he  was  thinking.  He 
was  much  franker  with  himself  now.  He  no  longer  tried  to 
conceal  from  himself  the  cause  of  this  vague  unrest,  this  useless 


216  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

looking  back  and  longing,  this  curious  downhearted  sense  of 
solitariness.  A  new  experience,  truly,  and  a  bewildering  one  !  In- 
deed, he  was  ashamed  of  his  own  folly.  For  what  was  it  that  he 
wanted  ?  A  mere  continuance  of  that  friendly  alliance  and  com- 
panionship which  he  had  enjoyed  all  this  time  ?  Was  he  indulg- 
ing a  sort  of  sentimental  misery  simply  because  he  could  not 
walk  down  to  the  Aivron's  banks  and  talk  to  Miss  Honnor  and 
watch  the  sun  tracing  threads  of  gold  among  her  tightly  braided 
hair  ?  If  that  were  all,  he  might  get  out  at  the  next  station, 
make  his  way  back  to  the  beloved  strath,  and  be  sure  that  Hon- 
nor Cunyngham  would  welcome  him  just  as  of  old,  and  allow 
him  to  carry  her  waterproof  or  ask  him  to  have  a  cast  over  the 
Junction  Pool.  He  had  no  reason  to  fear  any  break  in  this 
friendship  that  had  been  formed.  When  he  should  see  her  in 
Brighton,  she  would  be  to  him  as  she  had  been  yesterday,  when 
they  said  good-bye  by  the  side  of  the  river.  And  were  not 
these  the  only  possible  relations  between  them ;  and  ought  he 
not  to  be  proud  and  content  that  he  could  look  forward  to  an 
enduring  continuance  of  them  ? 

Yes  ;  but  some  man  would  be  coming  along  and  marrying 
her;  and  where  would  he  be  then?  What  would  become  of 
this  alliance,  this  friendly  understanding — perhaps,  even,  some 
little  interest  on  her  part  in  his  affairs — what  would  become  of 
all  these  relations,  then  ?  It  was  the  vv'ay  of  the  world.  Their 
paths  would  be  divided — he  would  hear  vaguely  of  her — per- 
haps see  her  name  in  the  papers  as  being  at  a  drawing-room  or 
something  of  the  kind.  She  would  have  forgotten  all  those 
long,  still  days  by  the  Aivron  and  the  Geinig ;  no  echo  would 
remain  in  her  memory  of  "  The  Bonnie  Earl  o'  Moray,"  as  he 
had  sung  it  for  her,  with  all  the  passionate  pathos  of  which  he 
was  capable  ;  she  would  be  a  stranger — moving  afar — one  heard 
of  only — a  remembrance — and  no  more.  So  the  impalpable  fut- 
ure was  interwoven  with  those  dreams  and  not  too  happy  fore- 
casts, as  the  train  thundered  on  its  way,  along  tlie  wooded  banks 
of  the  Allan  Water  and  towards  the  winding  Links  of  Forth. 

But  there  was  an  alternative  that  would  recur  again  and  again 
to  liis  fancy,  though  in  rather  a  confused  and  breathless  way. 
What  if,  in  the  very  despair  of  losing  her  altogether,  at  the  very 
moment  of  parting  with  her,  he  had  made  bold  to  claim  this 
proud-spirited  maiden  all   for  himself  ?     Might  not  some  such 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  217 

sudden  and  audacious  proposal  have  been  the  very  thing  to  ap- 
peal to  her — the  very  thing  to  capture  her?  A  challenge — a 
demand  that  she  should  submit — that  she  should  come  down 
from  those  serene  heights  of  independence  and  yield  herself  a 
willing  and  gracious  helpmeet  and  companion  for  life  to  this 
daring  suitor ;  might  not  that  have  secured  for  him  this  won- 
drous prize  ?  K  she  had  any  regard  for  him  at  all,  she  might 
have  been  startled  into  confession.  A  couple  of  words — there 
by  the  side  of  the  Aivron — might  have  been  enough.  No  the- 
atrical professions  nor  mock  homage,  no  kneeling  at  her  feet 
or  swearing  by  eternal  stars ;  but  a  look  into  her  eyes — a  clasp 
of  the  hand — a  single  question?  Something  he  had  indeed 
meant  to  say  to  her,  as  they  stood  face  to  face  there  for  the  last 
time — something,  he  hardly  knew  what ;  and  yet  his  hesitation 
had  been  but  natural ;  he  might  have  been  hurried  into  saying 
too  much ;  he  dared  not  offend.  Nay,  even  as  he  held  her 
hand,  he  was  unaware  of  the  true  state  of  his  feeling  towards 
her ;  it  was  this  separation — this  ever-increasing  distance  be- 
tween them — that  had  enabled  him  to  understand. 

And  then  ao-ain  his  mood  chauged  into  one  of  bitter  self- 
reproach  and  self-contempt.  What  miserable  folly  was  this  cry- 
ing for  the  moon  —  this  picturing  of  a  marriage  between  the 
daughter  of  an  ancient  and  wealthy  house — one,  too,  who  was 
unmistakably  proud  of  her  lineage — and  a  singer  in  comic  opera  ! 
Not  for  nothing  had  he  heard  of  the  twin  brothers  Cunyngham 
who  fell  on  Flodden  Field.  It  is  true  that  at  the  present  time 
he  and  she  mingled  in  the  same  society ;  for  he  was  the  pet  and 
plaything  of  the  hour  in  the  fashionable  world  ;  but  he  was  not 
entirely  blinded  by  that  favor ;  he  did  not  wholly  mistake  his 
position.  And  even  supposing — a  wild  conjecture  ! — that  she 
entertained  an  exceptional  regard  for  him — that  she  could  be 
induced  to  think  of  marrying  him — would  she  be  content  that 
her  husband  remained  on  the  stage  and  painted  his  face  every 
evening  and  postured  before  the  footlights  ?  On  the  other  hand, 
apart  from  the  stage,  what  was  he  ? — a  mere  nobody,  not  too- 
well  instructed,  having  no  particular  gifts  of  wit  or  conversation, 
without  even  a  well-filled  purse — the  meanest  of  qualifications — 
to  recommend  him.  No  doubt  they  might  make  a  very  pretty 
bargain  between  them  ;  he  might  go  to  her  and  say, 

"  Let  there  be  a  sacrifice  on  both  sides.     I  give  up  the  thea- 
10 


218  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

tre — I  give  up  the  applause,  the  popularity,  the  opportunities  of 
making  pleasant  friendships — all  the  agreeable  things  of  a  stage- 
life  ;  and  you  on  your  part  give  up  your  pride  of  birth,  and,  it 
may  be,  something  of  your  place  in  society.  It  is  a  surrender 
on  both  sides.  Let  our  motto  be, '  All  for  love,  and  the  world 
well  lost.' "  Yes,  a  very  pretty  bargain  ;  but  as  he  considered 
that  he  was  now  wandering  into  the  region  of  romance — a  re- 
gion which  he  unhesitatingly  scorned  as  having  no  relation  with 
the  facts  of  the  world — he  withdrew  from  that  futile  and  use- 
less and  idle  speculation,  and  took  to  thinking  of  Miss  Honnor 
Cunyngham  as  she  actually  was,  and  wondering  over  which 
of  the  Aivron  pools  the  proud-featured  tisher-maiden  would  be 
casting  at  this  moment. 

And  here,  again,  as  the  hours  crept  by,  was  something  of  a 
more  practical  nature  to  remind  him  of  the  now  far-distant 
strath.  In  order  to  save  him  from  the  hurry  of  a  twenty-min- 
utes' railway-station  dinner.  Lady  Adela  had  ordered  a  luncheon- 
basket  to  be  packed  for  him,  and  her  skill  and  forethought  in 
this  direction  were  unequalled,  as  many  a  little  shooting-party 
had  joyfully  discovered.  When  Lionel  leisurely  began  to  ex- 
plore the  contents  of  the  basket,  he  was  proud  to  think  that  it 
was  under  her  own  immediate  supervision  that  these  things  had 
been  put  together  for  him.  There  was  some  kind  of  sentimental 
interest  attaching  to  the  chicken  and  tongue  and  galantine,  to 
the  salad  and  biscuits  and  cake  and  what  not ;  and  he  knew 
that  it  was  no  servant  who  had  thought  of  filling  a  small  tin 
canister  with  peaches  and  grapes,  even  as  he  knew  that  only 
Lady  Adela  was  aware  of  his  preference  for  the  particular  dry 
Sillery  of  which  a  half-bottle  here  lay  in  its  covering  of  straw. 
As  he  took  out  the  things  and  placed  them  on  the  seat  beside 
him,  he  could  have  imagined  that  a  pair  of  very  gentle  hands 
had  arranged  that  repast  for  him.  Then  from  this  much  too 
sumptuous  banquet  his  mind  wandered  away  back  to  the  simple 
fare  that  old  Robert  used  to  bring  forth  from  the  fishing-bag, 
when  Miss  Uonnor  had  taken  her  place  among  the  bracken. 
Again  he  was  with  her  in  that  little  dell  away  among  the  soli- 
tudes of  the  hills,  with  the  murmur  of  the  Geinig  coming  up  to 
them  from  the  chasm  below.  The  sunlight  fiashed  on  the  rip- 
pling burn  at  their  feet ;  the  leaves  of  the  birches  trembled,  and 
no  more  than  trembled,  in  the  still  air;  the  deep,  clear  blue  of 


PKINCE    FOKTUNATUS,  219 

the  sky  overhead  told  them  to  be  in  no  hurry — they  would  have 
to  wait  till  the  afternoon  for  clouds.  In  the  perfect  silence  (for 
the  humming  of  the  bees  in  the  heather  was  hardly  a  sound  at 
all)  he  could  hear  every  soft  modulation  of  her  voice — though, 
to  be  sure,  it  was  not  lovers'  talk  that  passed  between  them. 
"  Mr,  Moore,  won't  you  have  the  rest  of  this  soda-water  ?"  or, 
"  Yes,  one  of  those  brown  biscuits,  thank  you,"  or,  "  Please,  Mr. 
Moore,  will  you  crush  those  bits  of  paper  together  and  bury  them 
in  a  hole  ?  Nothing  is  so  horrid  as  to  come  upon  traces  of  a 
pic-nic  on  a  hillside  or  along  a  river."  Already  those  long  days 
of  constant  companionship  seemed  to  be  becoming  remote.  It 
was  the  black  night-journey  between  Inverness  and  Perth  that 
had  severed  that  shining  time  from  the  dull  and  commonplace 
hours  he  had  now  entered  upon.  He  looked  out  of  the  window 
as  the  train  thundered  along — Preston — Wigan — Warrington — 
everywhere  squalor,  hurry,  and  noise,  with  a  smoke -laden  sky 
lowering  over  the  sad  and  dismal  country,  diflEerent,  indeed,  from 
that  other  world  he  knew  of,  with  its  crimson  slopes  of  heather, 
its  laughing  waters,  its  lonely  solitudes  in  their  noonday  hush, 
the  fair  azure  of  the  heavens  becoming  paler  and  paler  towards 
the  horizon  until  it  touched  the  distant  peaks  and  shoulders  of 
Assynt.  "  Muss  aus  dem  Thai  jetzt  scheiden,  wo  alles  Lust  und 
Klang  ;"  but  at  least  the  memory  of  it  would  remain  with  him 
— a  gracious  possession. 

The  long  afternoon  wore  on  ;  Crewe,  Stafford,  Lichfield,  Tam- 
worth  went  by,  as  things  in  a  dream,  for  his  thoughts  were  far 
away.  Sometimes,  it  is  true,  he  would  rebel  against  this  mor- 
bid, restless,  useless  regret  that  had  got  hold  of  him ;  and  he 
would  valiantly  attack  the  newspapers,  of  which  he  had  an  am- 
ple supply ;  but  somehow  or  another  the  gray  columns  would 
fade  away,  and  in  their  place  would  come  a  picture  of  Strath- 
aivron  Lodge,  and  the  valley,  and  the  river,  and  of  an  upturned 
face  smiling  a  last  farewell  to  him  as  the  wagonette  rolled  on. 
Was  it  really  only  yesterday  that  he  had  seen  her — talked  with 
her — taken  her  hand  ?  A  yesterday  that  seemed  years  away ! 
A  vision  already  growing  pale. 

AYell,  London  came  at  last,  and  all  the  hurry  and  bustle  of 
Euston  Station ;  and  when  he  had  got  his  things  put  on  the 
top  of  a  hansom,  and  given  his  address  to  the  driver,  there  was 
an  end  of  dreams.     No  more  dreams  were  possible  in  this  great 


220  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

vortex  of  a  city  into  whicli  lie  was  now  plunged — a  turbulent, 
bewildering,  vast  black  hole  it  seemed,  and  yet  all  afire  with  its 
blaze  of  windows  and  lamps.  In  Strathaivron  the  night  was 
a  gentle  thing — it  came  stealing  over  the  landscape  as  soft  as 
sleep ;  it  brought  silence  with  it  and  a  weight  to  tired  eyes ;  it 
bade  the  woods  be  still ;  and  to  the  lonely  and  darkened  peaks 
of  the  hills  it  unveiled  its  canopy  of  trembling  stars.  But  here 
there  was  no  night — there  was  yellow  fire,  there  were  black 
phantoms  unceasingly  hurrying  hither  and  thither,  and  a  dull 
and  constant  roar  more  continuous  than  that  of  any  sea.  Tot- 
tenham Court  Road  after  Strathaivron !  But  here  at  least  was 
actuality  ;  the  time  for  sentimental  sorrows,  for  dumb  and  hope- 
less regrets,  was  over  and  gone. 

And  who  was  the  first  to  greet  him  on  his  return  to  London 
— who  but  Nina  ? — not  in  person,  truly,  but  by  a  very  graceful 
little  message.  The  moment  he  went  into  his  sitting-room  his 
eye  fell  on  the  tiny  nosegaj^  Jyi"g  on  the  table ;  and  when  he 
took  the  card  from  the  accompanying  envelope,  he  knew  whose 
handwriting  he  would  find  there.  "  Welcome  home — -from  Nina  /" 
— that  was  all ;  but  it  was  enough  to  make  him  rather  remorse- 
ful. Too  much  had  he  neglected  his  old  comrade  and  ally ;  he 
had  scarcely  ever  written  to  her ;  she  had  been  but  little  in  his 
thoughts.  Poor  Nina  ! — It  was  a  shame  he  should  treat  so  faith- 
ful a  friend  so  ill ;  he  might  have  remembered  her  a  little  more 
had  not  his  head  been  stuffed  with  foolish  fancies.  Well,  as  soon 
as  he  had  changed  his  clothes  and  swallowed  a  bit  of  food  he 
would  jump  into  a  hansom  and  go  along  to  the  New  Theatre ; 
he  would  be  too  late  to  judge  of  Nina's  Grace  Mainwaring  as  a 
whole,  but  he  would  have  a  little  chat  with  her  in  the  wings. 

He  was  later  in  getting  there  than  he  had  expected ;  indeed, 
as  he  made  his  way  to  the  side  of  the  stage,  he  discovered  that 
his  locum  tenens  had  just  been  recalled  and  was  singing  for  the 
second  time  the  well-known  serenade,  "  The  Starry  Night" — 
and  very  well  he  sang  it,  too,  confound  him  !  Lionel  said  to  him- 
self. And  here  was  Nina,  standing  on  a  small  platform  at  the 
top  of  a  short  ladder,  and  waiting  until  the  passionate  appeal 
of  her  sweetheart  (in  the  garden  without)  should  be  finished. 
She  did  not  know  of  the  presence  of  the  new-comer.  Lionel 
might  have  pulled  her  skirts,  it  is  true,  to  apprise  her  of  his  be- 
ing there;  but  that  would  not  have  been  decorous;  besides,  he 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  221 

dared  not  distract  her  attention  from  the  business  of  the  stage. 
As  soon  as  the  last  verse  of  the  serenade  had  been  sung,  with 
its  recurring  refrain — 

"  Appear,  my  sweet,  and  shame  the  skies, 
That  have  no  splendor 
That  have  no  splendor  hke  thine  eyes  " — 

Nina — that  is,  Grace  Mainwaring — carefully  opened  the  case- 
ment at  which  she  was  supposed  to  be  standing.  A  flood  of 
moonlight — lime-light,  rather — fell  on  her ;  but  Lionel  could  not 
see  how  she  looked  the  part,  because  her  back  was  towards  him. 
Very  timidly  Grace  Mainwaring  glanced  this  way  and  that,  to 
make  sure  that  no  one  could  observe  her ;  she  took  a  rose  from 
her  hair,  kissed  it,  and  dropped  it  to  her  enraptured  lover  be- 
low. It  was  the  end  of  the  act.  She  had  to  come  down  quick- 
ly from  the  platform  for  the  recall  that  resounded  through  the 
theatre ;  she  did  not  chance  to  notice  Lionel ;  she  was  led  on 
and  across  the  stage  by  Harry  Thornhill,  she  bowing  repeated- 
ly and  gracefully,  he  reserving  his  acknowledgment  until  he 
had  handed  her  off.  The  reception  both  of  them  got  was  most 
gratifying ;  there  could  be  no  doubt  of  the  sincerity  of  the  ap- 
plause of  this  crowded  house. 

"  It  seems  to  me  I  am  not  wanted  here  any  more,"  Lionel  said 
to  himself.     "  Even  Nina  won't  take  any  notice  of  the  stranger." 

The  next  moment  Nina,  who  was  coming  across  the  stage, 
caught  sight  of  him,  and  with  a  little  cry  of  delight  she  ran 
towards  him  —  yes,  ran ;  for  what  cared  she  about  carpenters 
and  scene-shifters? — and  caught  both  his  hands  in  hers. 

"  Ah,  Leo  !"  she  cried,  with  glad-shining  eyes.  "  Oh,  so 
brown  you  are  ! — a  hunter  ! — you  are  from  the  forests  !  And  to- 
day you  arrive — and  already  at  the  theatre — did  you  hear  the 
duet — no  ?  Ah,  it  is  good  to  see  you  again,  after  so  long ! — I 
could  laugh  and  cry  together,  it  is  such  a  joy  to  see  you — and 
see  you  looking  so  well — " 

"  I  say,  Nina,"  he  said,  "  that  fellow  Doyle  sings  tremendous- 
ly well — he's  ever  so  much  improved — they'll  be  wanting  him  to 
take  my  place  altogether  and  sending  me  off  into  the  country." 

"You,  Leo!"  she  said,  with  a  merry  laugh,  and  still  she  re- 
garded him  with  those  delighted,  welcoming  eyes.  "  Ah,  yes, 
it  is  likely  !  Ah,  you  will  see  what  reception  they  will  give  you 
on  Monday.     Yes,  it  is  in  all  the  papers  already — everywhere  I 


322  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

see  it;  but  come — Miss  Girond  and  I,  we  have  Miss  Burgoyne's 
room  for  the  present — you  can  wait  for  a  few  minutes,  then  I 
come  out  to  talk  to  you." 

Lionel  (feeling  very  much  like  a  stranger  in  this  place)  fol- 
lowed her  into  Miss  Burgoyne's  room,  where  he  found  Mile. 
Girond  only  too  ready  to  throw  away  the  French  novel  she  was 
reading.  Nina  had  to  disappear  into  the  dressing-room  ;  but 
this  small  boy-officer  in  the  gay  uniform,  with  his  or  her  pretty 
gesticulation  and  charm  of  broken  English,  was  quite  willing  to 
entertain  Mr.  Moore,  though  at  times  she  would  forget  all  about 
him  and  walk  across  to  the  full-length  mirror  and  twist  her 
small  moustache.  She  chatted  to  him  now  and  again  ;  she  re- 
turned to  the  mirror  to  touch  her  eyebrows  and  adjust  her  sash  ; 
she  walked  about  or  flicked  the  dust  from  her  shining  Welling- 
tons with  a  silk  handkerchief;  agam  she  contemplated  herself 
in  the  glass,  and  lightly  sang, 

"  En  debordant  de  Saiiit-Malo 
Nos  longs  avirons  battaient  I'eau  !" 

Then  she  was  called  away  for  the  beginning  of  the  last  act ;  and 
Nina,  having  made  the  change  necessary  for  her  next  appear- 
ance, came  out  from  the  dressing-room  and  sat  down. 

"  Oh,  you  are  wicked,  Leo,"  she  said,  as  she  contentedly 
crossed  her  hands  in  her  lap  and  looked  at  the  young  man  with 
those  friendly  eyes,  "  that  you  stayed  away  so  long.  I  wished 
to  sing  the  duet  with  you — but  no — you  begin  Monday — and 
Miss  Burgoyne  comes  back  Monday — " 

"  Does  she  ?     I  thought  she  was  ordered  a  long  rest." 

Nina  laughed. 

"  She  sees  in  the  papers  that  you  come  back — it  is  to  be  a 
great  occasion — she  says  to  herself, '  Will  he  sing  with  that  Ital- 
ian girl  ?  No  !  Let  my  throat  be  well  or  ill,  I  am  going  back  ;' 
and  she  is  coming,  Leo.  Never  mind  ;  I  am  to  have  the  part  of 
Clara;  is  it  not  an  advancement?  And  everything  is  so  much 
more  comfortable  now  ;  Miss  Girond  has  taken  a  room  with 
Mrs.  Grey  ;  then  we  go  home  always  together,  and  she  has  the 
use  of  the  piano — " 

"  Miss  lloss,  please  !"  called  a  voice  at  the  door. 

"  All  right !"  she  called  in  reply. 

"The  chorus  is  on,  miss." 

"All  right!" 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  223 

"  Ah,"  she  continued,  "  it  is  so  good  to  see  you  back,  Leo  ; 
yes,  yes ;  London  was  a  stranger  city  when  you  were  away — 
there  was  no  one.  And  it  is  all  you  I  have  to  thank,  Leo,  for 
my  introduction  here  and  my  good-fortune — " 

"  Oh,  nonsense,  Nina !"  he  said,  "  What  else  could  1  have 
done  ?  It  isn't  you  who  ought  to  thank  me — it's  Lehmann  ;  I 
consider  him  precious  lucky  to  have  got  a  substitute  for  Miss 
Burgoyne  so  easily.  So  Miss  Burgoyne  is  coming  back  on 
Monday  ?" 

"  Yes,"  said  Nina,  as  she  went  to  the  door.  "  Shall  I  see  you 
again,  Leo,  to-night  ?" 

."  Oh,  I'm  coming  to  hear  you  sing  '  Now  to  the  dance,'  "  he 
said,  as  he  followed  her  out  into  the  corridor  and  ascended  with 
her  into  the  wings. 

This  was  a  busy  act  for  Nina ;  and  the  next  time  he  had  an 
opportunity  of  talking  with  her  was  after  she  had  dressed  her- 
self in  her  bridal  robes  and  was  come  up  ready  to  go  on  the 
stage.  Nina  looked  a  little  self-conscious  when  she  first  encoun- 
tered him  in  this  attire ;  perhaps  she  was  afraid  of  his  contrast- 
ing her  appearance  with  that  of  Miss  Burgoyne.  If  he  did,  it 
was  certainly  not  to  Nina's  disadvantage.  No  ;  Nina  was  much 
more  distinguished-looking  and  refined  than  the  pert  little  doll- 
like bride  represented  by  Miss  Burgoyne ;  she  wore  the  gor- 
geous costume  of  flowered  white  satin  with  ease  and  grace ;  and 
her  portentous  white  wig,  with  its  feathered  brilliants  and  strings 
of  pearls,  seemed  to  add  a  greater  depth  and  softness  and  mild 
lustre  to  her  dark,  expressive  eyes.  For  an  instant,  as  she  came 
up  to  him,  those  beautiful,  liquid  eyes  were  turned  to  the 
ground. 

*'  I  did  not  choose  anything,  Leo,"  she  said,  modestly ;  "  I 
have  had  to  copy  Miss  Burgoyne." 

"  Well,  there's  a  difference  somehow,  Nina,"  said  he,  '*  and  I 
think  Miss  Burgoyne  had  better  begin  and  copy  you. 

For  a  swift  instant  she  raised  her  eyes ;  she  was  more  than 
pleased.  But  she  said  nothing — indeed,  she  had  now  to  go  on 
the  stage.  And  if  he  had  contrasted  her  appearance  favorably 
with  that  of  Miss  Burgoyne,  he  was  now  inclined  to  give  a  simi- 
lar verdict  with  regard  to  her  acting.  It  certainly  wanted  the 
self-confidence  of  long  experience  and  also  the  emphasis  and 
exaggeration   of   comedy-opera;    it   was  not  nearly  impudent 


324  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

enough  for  the  upper  gallery ;  but  it  was  graceful  and  natural 
to  a  degree  that  surprised  him.  As  for  her  voice,  that  was  in- 
comparably better  than  Miss  Burgoyne's ;  it  was  a  fresh,  sym- 
pathetic, finely  modulated  voice  that  had  been  uninjured  by  ex- 
cessive training  or  excessive  work.  Lionel  was  quite  proud  of 
his  protegee ;  unseen,  here  in  the  wings,  he  could  applaud  as 
loudly  as  any  ;  if  Nina  did  not  hear,  she  must  have  been  deaf. 
And  when  she  came  ofi  at  the  end  of  the  act — or,  rather,  imme- 
diately after  the  recall,  which  was  as  enthusiastic  as  the  soul  of 
actor  or  actress  could  desire — there  was  no  stint  to  his  praise  ; 
and  Nina's  heartfelt  pleasure  on  hearing  this  warm  commenda- 
tion shone  through  all  her  stage  make-up.  He  asked  if  he 
should  wait  to  act  as  escort  to  Miss  Girond  and  herself ;  but 
Nina  said  no ;  Miss  Girond  and  she  went  home  every  night  by 
themselves  in  a  four-wheeled  cab ;  she  knew  he  must  be  tired 
after  his  long  journey ;  and  he  must  go  away  and  get  to  bed  at 
once.  So  Lionel  shook  hands  with  her  and  left  the  theatre,  and 
walked  carelessly  and  absently  home  to  his  lodgings  in  Picca- 
dilly. 

Well,  he  was  glad  to  find  his  old  friend  and  comrade,  Nina, 
getting  on  so  well  and  so  proud  of  her  success  and  looking  so 
charming  in  her  new  part ;  and  he  guessed  that  she  must  have 
written  to  the  grumbling  old  Pandiani,  and  sent  photographs  of 
herself  as  Grace  Mainwaring  to  Andrea  and  Carmela  and  her 
other  Neapolitan  friends.  But  it  was  not  of  Nina  that  he 
thought  long,  as  he  lay  in  the  easy-chair  and  smoked,  and  lis- 
tened to  the  heavy  murmur  of  the  streets  without.  He  had  not 
got  used  to  London  yet.  The  theatre  seemed  to  him  a.  great, 
glaring  thing ;  the  lime-light  an  impertinent  sham  ;  even  the  ap- 
plause of  the  delighted  audience  somehow  brutal  and  offensive. 
There  was  no  repose,  no  reticence,  no  self-respect  and  modesty 
about  the  whole  affair ;  it  was  all  too  violent ;  a  fanfaronade  ;  a 
coarse  and  ostentatious  make-believe,  that  seemed  a  kind  of  in- 
sult to  a  quiet  mind.  He  turned  away  from  it  altogether.  His 
fancies  had  fled  to  the  North  again  ;  the  long  railway  journey  was 
annihilated ;  again  he  was  driving  out  to  the  still  and  beautiful 
valley,  where  those  kind  friends  were  standing  at  the  door  of 
the  lodge,  fluttering  a  white  welcome  to  him.  He  goes  down 
the  steep  hillside ;  he  crosses  the  stream  at  the  Horse's  Drink  ; 
he  reaches  the  hall-door  and  is  shaking  hands  with  this  one 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  325 

and  that.  And  if  the  tall,  proud  maiden  with  the  fine  forehead 
and  the  clear,  cahn  hazel  eyes  is  not  among  this  group,  be  sure 
she  will  be  here  in  the  evening  to  add  her  greeting  to  the  rest. 
Oh,  to  think  of  that  next  morning — the  sweet  air  blowing  down 
from  the  hills — the  silver  lights  among  the  purple  clouds — the 
Aivron  swinging  along  its  gravelly  bed,  a  deep,  clear  bronze 
where  the  sunlight  strikes  the  shallows !  Farther  and  farther 
into  the  solitudes  these  two  idly  wander — away  from  human 
ken — until  the  dogs  in  the  kennels  are  no  longer  heard,  nor  is 
there  even  a  black-cock  crowing  in  the  woods ;  nothing  but  the 
hum  of  the  bees,  and  the  whisper  of  the  birch  branches,  and  the 
hushed,  low  thunder  of  the  Geinig  falls.  He  could  almost  hear 
it  now  ;  or  was  not  the  continuous  murmur  that  dazed  and  dinned 
his  ears  a  sadly  different  sound — the  muffled  roar  of  cabs  and  car- 
riages along  Piccadilly,  bearing  home  this  teeming  population  from 
the  blare  and  glare  of  the  crowded  theatres  ?  A  different  sound 
indeed  !  He  had  come  into  another  world  ;  and  the  Aivron  and 
Geinig,  far  away,  were  alone  with  the  darkness  and  the  stars. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

A    MAGNANIMOUS    RIVAL. 


That  Monday  night  at  the  New  Theatre  was  a  great  occasion  ; 
for,  although  there  were  a  few  people  (themselves  not  of  much 
account,  perhaps)  who  went  about  saying  there  was  no  one  in 
London,  an  enormous  house  welcomed  back  to  the  stage  those 
well-known  favorites.  Miss  Burgoyne  and  Mr.  Lionel  Moore. 
And  what  had  become  of  the  Aivron  and  the  Geinig  now  ? — their 
distant  murmurs  were  easily  drowned  in  the  roar  of  enthusiasm 
with  which  the  vast  audience — a  mass  of  orange-hued  faces  they 
seemed  across  the  footlights — greeted  the  prima-donna  and  the 
popular  young  baritone.  Nina  was  here  also,  in  her  subordi- 
nate part.  And  all  that  Miss  Burgoyne  could  do,  on  the  stage 
and  off  the  stage,  to  attract  his  attention,  did  not  hinder  Lionel 
from  watching,  with  the  most  affectionate  interest,  the  manner 
in  which  his  protegee,  his  old  comrade  Nina,  was  acquitting  her- 
self. Clara  was  perhaps  a  little  bit  too  eager  and  anxious ;  she 
anticipated  her  cues ;  her  parted  lips  seemed  to  repeat  what  was 
10* 


226  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

being  said  to  her ;  lights  and  shadows  of  expression  chased  each 
other  over  the  mobile  features  and  brightened  or  darkened  her 
eloquent  eyes ;  and  in  her  passages  with  Grace  Mainwaring  she 
was  most  effusive,  though  that  other  young  lady  maintained  a 
much  more  matter-of-fact  demeanor. 

"  Capital,  Nina !  Very  well  done  !"  Lionel  exclaimed  (to  him- 
self) in  the  wings.  "  You're  on  the  right  track.  It  is  easier  to 
tone  down  than  to  brace  up.  Don't  be  afraid — keep  it  going — 
you'll  grow  business-like  soon  enough." 

Here  Clara  had  to  come  tripping  off  the  stage,  and  Lionel  had 
to  go  on ;  he  had  no  opportunity  of  speaking  to  her  until  the 
end  of  the  act,  when  they  chanced  to  meet  in  the  long  glazed 
corridor. 

"  You're  a  bit  nervous  to-night,  Nina,"  he  said,  in  a  kindly 
way. 

"  But  so  as  to  be  bad?"  she  said,  quickly  and  anxiously. 

"  It  was  very  well  done  indeed — it  was  splendid — but  you  al- 
most take  too  much  pains.  Most  girls  with  a  voice  like  yours 
would  merely  sing  a  part  like  that  and  think  the  management 
was  getting  enough.  I  suppose  you  don't  know  yourself  that 
you  keep  repeating  what  the  other  person  is  saying  to  you — as 
if  he  weren't  getting  on  fast  enough — " 

Nina  paused  for  a  second. 

"  Yes,  I  understand — I  understand  what  you  mean,"  she  said, 
rather  slowly ;  then  she  continued,  in  her  usual  way,  "  But  to- 
night, Leo,  I  am  anxious — oh,  there  are  so  many  things ! — this 
is  the  first  time  I  act  with  Miss  l>urgoyne  ;^  and  I  wish  them  not 
to  say  I  am  a  stick — for  your  sake,  Leo — you  brought  me  here 
— I  must  do  what  I  can." 

"  Oh,  Nina,  you  don't  half  value  yourself  !"  he  said.  "  You 
think  far  too  little  of  yourself.  You're  a  most  wonderful  creat- 
ure to  find  in  a  theatre.  I  consider  that  Lehmann  is  under  a 
deep  obligation  to  me  for  giving  him  the  chance  of  engaging 
you.  By  the  way,  have  you  heard  what  he  means  to  do  on  Sun- 
day week  ?" 

"  No— not  at  all !" 

"  Saturday  week  is  the  400th  night,"  he  continued;  "and  to 
celebrate  it,  Lehmann  is  going  to  give  the  principal  members  of 
the  company,  and  a  few  friends,  I  suppose,  a  dinner  at  the  Star 
and  Garter  at  Richmond.     Haven't  you  heard  ? — but  of  course 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  227 

he'll  send  you  a  card  of  invitation.  The  worst  of  it  is  that  it  is 
no  use  driving  down  at  this  time  of  the  year ;  I  suppose  we  shall 
have  to  get  there  just  as  we  please,  and  meet  in  the  room ;  but 
I  don't  know  how  all  the  proper  escorts  are  to  be  arranged.  I 
was  thinking,  Nina,  I  could  take  you  and  Miss  Girond  down,  if 
you  will  let  me." 

There  was  a  bright,  quick  look  of  pleasure  in  Nina's  eyes — 
but  only  for  an  instant. 

"  No,  no,  Leo,"  she  said,  with  lowered  lashes.  "  That  is  not 
right.  Miss  Burgoyne  and  you  are  the  two  principal  people  in 
the  theatre — you  are  on  the  stage  equals — off  the  stage  also  you 
are  her  friend — you  must  take  her  to  Richmond,  Leo." 

"  Miss  Burgoyne  V 

But  here  the  door  of  Miss  Burgoyne's  room  was  suddenly 
opened,  and  the  voice  of  the  young  lady  herself  was  heard,  in 
unmistakably  angry  tones : 

"  Oh,  bother  your  headache  !  I  suppose  it  was  your  headache 
made  you  split  my  blue  jacket  in  two,  and  I  suppose  it  was  your 
headache  made  you  smash  my  brooch  last  night — I  wonder  what 
some  women  were  born  for  !"  And  therewithal  the  charming 
Grace  Main  waring  made  her  appearance  ;  and  not  a  word — hard- 
ly a  look — did  the  indignant  small  lady  choose  to  bestow  on 
either  Lionel  or  Nina  as  she  brushed  by  them  on  her  way  up  to 
the  wings. 

Yes,  here  he  was  in  the  theatre  again,  with  all  its  trivial  dis- 
tractions and  interests,  and  also  its  larger  excitements  and  am- 
bitions and  rewards,  not  the  least  of  which  was  the  curious 
fascination  he  found  in  holding  a  great  audience  hushed  and 
enthralled,  listening  breathlessly  to  every  far-reaching,  passion- 
ate note.  Then  his  reappearance  on  the  stage  brought  him  a 
renewal  of  all  the  friendly  little  attentions  and  hospitalities  that 
had  been  interrupted  by  his  leaving  for  Scotland ;  for  if  certain 
of  his  fashionable  acquaintance  were  still  away  at  their  country 
houses,  there  were  plenty  of  others  who  had  returned  to  town. 
Club  life  had  begun  again,  too.  But  most  of  all,  at  this  time, 
Lionel  was  disposed  to  enjoy  that  quiet  and  gentle  companion- 
ship with  Nina,  which  was  so  simple  and  frank  and  unreserved. 
He  could  talk  to  her  freely,  on  all  subjects  save  one — and  that 
he  was  trying  to  put  away  from  himself  in  these  altered  circum- 
stances.    He  and  she  had  a  community  of  interests ;  there  was 


228  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

never  any  lack  of  conversation — whether  he  were  down  in  Sloane 
Street,  drinking  tea  and  trying  over  new  music  with  lier,  or  walk- 
ing in  with  Miss  Girond  and  her  to  the  theatre  through  the  now 
almost  leafless  Green  Park.  Sometimes,  when  she  was  grown 
petulant  and  fractious,  he  had  to  scold  her  into  good-humor; 
sometimes  she  had  seriously  to  remonstrate  with  him ;  but  it 
was  all  given  and  taken  in  good  part.  He  was  never  embar- 
rassed or  anxious  in  her  society ;  he  was  happy  and  content 
and  careless,  as  she  appeared  to  be  also.  He  did  not  trouble  to 
invent  any  excuse  for  calling  upon  her ;  he  went  down  to  Sloane 
Street  just  whenever  he  had  a  spare  half-hour  or  hour ;  and  if 
the  morning  was  bright,  or  even  passable  (for  it  was  November 
now,  and  even  a  tolerable  sort  of  day  was  welcome),  and  if  Miss 
Girond  did  not  wish  to  go  out  or  had  some  other  engagement, 
Nina  and  he  would  set  off  for  a  stroll  by  themselves,  up  into 
Kensington  Gardens,  it  might  be,  or  along  Piccadilly,  or  through 
the  busy  crowds  of  Oxford  Street;  while  they  looked  at  the 
shops  and  the  passers-by,  and  talked  about  the  theatre  and  the 
people  in  it  or  about  old  days  in  Naples.  There  was  no  harm ; 
and  they  thought  no  harm.  Sometimes  he  could  hear  her  hum 
to  herself  a  fragment  of  one  of  the  old  familiar  canzoni — "  Anto- 
uiella  Antonia  !"  or  "  Voca,  voca  ncas'  a  mano" — so  light-hearted 
was  she  ;  and  occasionally  they  said  a  word  to  each  other  in  Ne- 
apolitanese — but  this  was  seldom,  for  Nina  considered  the  prac- 
tice to  be  most  reprehensible.  What  she  had  chiefly  to  take 
him  to  task  for,  however,  was  his  incurable  and  inordinate  ex- 
travagance— wherever  she  was  concerned  especially. 

"Leo,  you  think  it  is  a  compliment?"  she  said  to  him,  ear- 
nestly. "  No,  not  at  all ;  I  am  sorry.  Why  should  you  buy  for 
me  this,  that,  whatever  strikes  your  eye,  and  no  matter  the  price  ? 
I  have  everything  I  desire.  Why  to  me? — why,  if  you  must 
give,  why  not  to  your  cousin  you  tell  me  of,  who  is  so  kind  to 
the  sick  children  in  boarding  them  in  the  country  ?  There, 
now,  is  something  worthy,  something  good,  something  to  be 
praised — " 

"Oh,  preach  away,  Nina!"  he  answered,  with  a  laugh.  "But 
Pve  contributed  to  Francie's  funds  until  she  won't  take  anything 
more  from  me — not  at  present.  But  why  do  you  always  talk 
about  saving  and  saving?  You  are  an  artist,  Nina,  and  you  put 
such  value  on  money  !" 


PRINCE    FORTUWATUS.  229 

"  But  an  artist  grows  old,  Leo,"  sLe  said. 

"  Perliaps  you  have  been  saving  a  little  yourself,  Nina?"  he 
said,  at  a  venture. 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  have,  Leo,  a  little,"  she  answered,  rather  shame- 
facedly. 

"  What  for  ?"  he  made  bold  to  ask. 

"  Oh,  how  do  I  know  ?"  she  said,  with  downcast  eyes.  "  Many 
things  might  happen  :  is  it  not  safer  ?  No,  Leo,  you  must  not  say 
1  love  money  for  itself ;  it  is  not  fair  to  me  ;  but — but  if  a  dear 
friend  is  ill — if  a  doctor  says  to  him,  '  Suspend  all  work  and  go 
away  to  Capri,  to  Algeria,  to  Eg — Egippo ' — is  it  right  ? — and 
perhaps  he  has  been  indiscreet — he  has  been  too  generous  to  all 
his  companions — he  is  in  need — then  you  say,  '  Here,  take  mine 
— it  is  between  friends.'  Then  you  are  proud  to  have  money, 
are  you  not  ?" 

"  I'm  afraid,  Nina,  that's  what  they  call  a  parable,"  said  he, 
darkly.  "  But  I  am  sure  of  this,  that  if  that  person  were  to  be 
taken  ill,  and  were  so  very  poor,  and  were  to  go  to  Nina  for 
help,  I  don't  think  he  would  have  to  fear  any  refusal.  And 
then,  as  you  say,  Nina,  you  would  be  proud  to  have  the  money 
— just  as  I  know  you  would  be  ready  to  give  it." 

It  was  rarely  that  Nina  blushed,  but  now  her  pretty,  pale  face 
fairly  burned  with  conscious  pleasure;  and  he  hardly  dared  to 
look,  yet  he  fancied  there  was  something  of  moisture  in  the  long, 
dark  lashes,  while  she  did  not  speak  for  some  seconds.  Per- 
haps he  had  been  too  bold  in  interpreting  her  parable. 

Yes,  there  was  no  doubt  that  this  spoiled  favorite  of  the  pub- 
lic, who  lived  amid  the  excitements,  the  flatteries,  the  gratifica- 
tions of  the  moment,  with  hardly  a  thought  of  the  future,  was 
dreadfully  extravagant,  though  it  was  rarely  on  himself  that  he 
lavished  his  reckless  expenditure.  Nina's  protests  were  of  no 
avail ;  whenever  he  saw  anything  pretty  or  odd  or  interesting, 
that  he  thought  would  please  her,  it  w^as  purchased  there  and 
then,  to  be  given  to  her  on  the  first  opportunity.  One  day  he 
was  going  through  Vigo  Street,  and  noticed  in  a  shop-window 
a  pair  of  old-fashioned,  silver-gilt  loving-cups — those  that  inter- 
clasp  ;  and  forthwith  he  went  in  and  bought  them  :  "  I'll  take 
those  ;  how  much  are  they  "  being  his  way  of  bargaining.  In 
the  afternoon  he  carried  them  down  to  Sloaue  Street. 

"  Here,  Nina,  I've  brought  you  a  little  present ;  and  I'll  have 


230  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

to  show  you  Low  to  use  it,  or  you  would  never  guess  what  it  is 
for." 

When  he  unrolled  his  pretty  gift  out  of  the  pink  tissue  paper, 
Nina  threw  up  her  hands  in  despair. 

"  Oh,  it  is  too  much  of  a  folly !"  she  exclaimed.  "  Why  do 
you  do  it,  Leo  ?     What  is  the  use  of  old  silver  to  me  ?" 

"  Well,  it's  nice  to  look  at,"  said  he.  "  And  it  will  help  to 
furnish  your  house  when  you  get  married,  Nina." 

"  Ah,  Leo,"  said  she,  "  if  you  would  only  think  about  your- 
self !  It  is  always  to-day,  to-morrow,  with  you :  never  the  com- 
ing years — " 

"  Yes,  I  know  all  about  that,"  he  interposed.  "  Now  I'm  go- 
ing to  show  you  how  these  are  used.  They're  loving-cups,  you 
know,  Nina — " 

"  Loving-cups  ?"  she  repeated,  rather  timidly. 

"  Yes ;  and  I  will  show  you  how  the  ceremony  is  performed. 
Now,  will  you  get  me  some  lemonade,  Nina,  and  a  little  of  the 
vermouth  that  I  sent  to  Mrs,  Grey  ?" 

She  went  and  got  these  things  for  him ;  and  when  she  re- 
turned he  poured  into  one  of  the  tiny  goblets  about  a  teaspoon- 
ful  of  the  vermouth,  filling  it  up  with  the  lemonade  ;  then  he  put 
the  other  cup  on  the  top  of  this  one,  so  that  they  formed  a  con- 
tinuous vessel ;  he  shook  the  contents ;  then  he  separated  the 
cups,  leaving  about  half  the  liquid  in  each,  and  one  of  them  he 
handed  to  Nina,  retaining  the  other. 

"  We  drink  at  the  same  time,  Nina — with  any  kind  of  wishes 
you  like." 

She  glanced  towards  him — and  then  shyly  lowered  her  eyes 
— as  she  raised  the  small  cup  to  her  lips.  What  were  her 
wishes?  Perhaps  he  did  not  care  to  know  ;  perhaps  she  would 
not  have  cared  to  tell. 

"  You  see,  it  is  a  simple  ceremony,  Nina,"  he  said,  as  he  put  the 
little  goblet  on  the  table  again.  "  But  at  the  same  time  it  is  very 
confidential.  I  mean,  you  wouldn't  ask  everybody  to  go  through 
it  with  you — it  would  hardly,  for  example,  be  quite  circumspect 
for  you  to  ask  any  young  man  you  didn't  know  very  well — " 

"  Leo !" 

The  sound  of  her  voice  startled  him  ;  there  were  tears  of  in- 
dignation in  it ;  he  looked  up  and  found  she  had  grown  sud- 
denly pale. 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  231 

"  You,"  she  said,  with  quivering  lips,  "  you  and  I,  Leo — we 
have  drunk  together  out  of  these — and  you  think  1  allow  any 
one  else — any  one  living  in  the  world — to  drink  out  of  them 
after  that  ? — I  would  rather  have  them  dashed  to  pieces  and 
thrown  into  the  sea  !" 

Her  vehemence  surprised  him — and  might  have  set  any  other 
person  thinking ;  but  he  was  used  to  Nina's  proud  and  way- 
ward moods ;  so  he  merely  went  on  to  tell  her  that  there  was 
nothing,  after  all,  so  very  solemn  in  the  ceremony  of  drinking 
from  a  loving-cup ;  and  then  he  asked  her  whether  she  ought 
not  to  call  Miss  Girond,  for  it  was  about  time  they  were  going 
down  to  the  theatre. 

Of  course  the  forthcoming  dinner  that  Mr.  Lehmann  was  about 
to  give  at  the  Star  and  Garter  created  quite  a  stir  behind  the 
scenes,  where  the  routine  of  life  is  much  more  monotonous  than 
the  people  imagine  who  sit  in  the  stalls  and  regard  the  antics 
of  the  merry  folk  on  the  stage.  There  w^ere  all  kinds  of  rumors 
and  speculations  as  to  who  was  going  with  whom,  as  to  the 
number  and  quality  of  the  visitors,  and  as  to  the  possibility  of 
the  manager  presenting  each  of  his  lady-guests  with  a  little 
souvenir  in  honor  of  the  occasion.  So  when  Lionel  was  sum- 
moned to  Miss  Burgoyne's  room  one  evening,  he  was  not  sur- 
prised to  find  her  begin  to  talk  of  the  following  Sunday. 

"  Will  you  make  yourself  some  tea,  Mr.  Moore  ?"  she  said, 
from  the  inner  room.  "  There's  some  cake  on  the  top  of  the 
piano.  Then  you  can  bring  a  chair  to  the  curtain,  and  I'll  talk 
to  you — for  I'm  not  quite  finished  yet." 

He  drew  a  chair  to  the  little  opening  in  the  curtain,  w^here  he 
could  hear  what  she  had  to  say,  and  answer,  without  any  indis- 
creet prying. 

"  I  am  at  your  service,  Miss  Grace,"  said  he,  lightly. 

"  How  are  you  going  down  to  Richmond  on  Sunday  ?"  she 
asked  at  once. 

"  By  train,  I  suppose." 

There  was  a  moment's  silence — perhaps  she  was  waiting  for 
him  to  ask  a  similar  question. 

"  Lord  Denysfort  is  going  to  drive  down,"  said  the  voice  in 
the  inner  room. 

"  Lord  Denysfort !"  he  said,  contemptuously.  "  What  she  is 
the  attraction  now  ?     I  don't  like  that  kind  of  thing ;  it  gets  the 


332  PRINCE     FORTUNATUS. 

theatre  a  bad  name.  If  I  were  Lehmaun,  I  wouldn't  Lave  a 
single  stranger  allowed  in  the  wings." 

"  Not  unless  they  were  your  own  friends,"  said  the  unseen 
young  lady,  complacently.  "  Now  I  know  you're  scowling.  But 
I  believe  you  are  quite  wrong.  Lord  Denysfort  is  simply  a 
business  acquaintance  of  Mr.  Lehmann's — there  are  money  mat- 
ters between  them,  and  that  kind  of  thing ;  and  when  he  was 
asked  to  be  present  at  the  dinner,  it  was  quite  natural  that  he 
should  offer  to  drive  some  of  us  down.  You  have  no  particular 
detestation  of  lords,  have  you  ?  What  has  become  of  the  tall, 
handsome  young  man  you  brought  to  us  at  Henley — the  lazy 
man — and  didn't  he  come  to  the  theatre  one  night  ?" 

"Lord  Rockminster? — he  is  in  Scotland  still,  I  believe." 

"Somebody  ought  to  put  fireworks  in  his  coat-tail  pockets; 
but  he's  awfully  good-looking — he's  just  frightfully  handsome. 
He  quite  fluttered  me." 

"  I  say,  Miss  Burgoyne,"  Lionel  interposed,  quickly,  "  there's 
a  sister-in-law  of  his  coming  to  town  shortly,  on  her  Avay  to 
Brighton — a  Miss  Cunyngham — and  I  should  like  to  have  her 
mother  and  herself  come  behind  for  a  little  while,  some  night 
they  were  at  the  theatre — it  is  interesting  to  those  people,  you 
know — " 

"  You  are  the  one  who  would  have  no  strangers  in  the  wings  !" 
said  the  voice. 

"  And  I  want  you  to  be  civil  to  them — " 

"Tea  and  cake?  All  right.  But  you  haven't  told  me  how 
you  are  going  down  to  Richmond." 

"  Yes,  I  have.     I'm  going  down  by  train,  most  likely." 

"  Oh,  by  train.  I  suppose  I  ought  to  accept  Lord  Denysfort's 
invitation." 

"  What's  the  good  of  driving  at  this  time  of  year  ?"  he  asked. 
"  It  will  be  pitch  dark." 

"There  will  be  a  full  moon,  they  say." 

"  You  won't  see  it  because  of  the  fog.  In  fact,  the  whole 
thing  is  a  mistake.  The  dinner  should  have  been  given  in  Lon- 
don." 

"Oh,  I  think  it  will  be  groat  fun  dining  at  a  half-dosertcd 
hotel — it  will  be  ghostly — and  I'm  going  out  on  the  terrace,  if 
it  is  as  black  as  midnight." 

♦'And  what  arc  you  going  to  do  with  your  gallant  warrior — 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  233 

with  the  furious  fire-eater  who  wanted  to  bring  my  humble  ca- 
reer to  a  premature  end  ?" 

*'  I  don't  know  who  you  mean,"  said  the  voice,  but  with  no 
great  decision. 

"  You  don't  remember  saving  my  life,  then  ?"  he  asked.  "  Uave 
you  forgotten  the  duel  that  was  to  have  been  fought  before  I  went 
to  Scotland,  and  how  you  stepped  in  to  protect  me  ?  If  it  hadn't 
been  for  you,  I  might  have  fallen  on  the  gory  field  of  battle — " 

"  It's  all  very  well  for  you  to  mock,"  said  she,  "  but  there's 
nothing  that  young  man  wouldn't  do  for  my  sake ;  and  I  don't 
see  anything  to  laugh  at  in  true  esteem  and  affection.  They're 
too  rare  nowadays.  I  know  one  or  two  gentlemen  who  might 
be  improved  by  a  little  more  devotion  and — and  chivalry.  But 
it's  all  persiflage  nowadays.     Everything  is  connu — " 

"Behind  the  scenes,  perhaps  ;  but  it's  different  when  you  im- 
port the  fresh,  the  ingenuous  element  from  the  outer  world," 
said  he  (but  what  interest  had  he  in  the  discussion  ? — he  did 
not  wear  his  heart  on  his  sleeve  for  Miss  Burgoyne  to  peck  at). 
"  Aren't  you  going  to  take  Mr.  Miles  down  with  you  ?" 

"  Poor  Percy  !"  said  the  now  mufiled  voice  (perhaps  she  had 
a  pin  in  her  teeth,  or  perhaps  she  was  still  further  touching-up 
her  lips),  "  I  suppose  he  would  come  if  he  were  invited  ;  but  he 
doesn't  know  any  of  them." 

"  Why  don't  you  ask  Lehman n  for  an  invitation  for  him  ?" 

*'  What  do  you  mean,  Mr.  Moore  ?"  demanded  the  voice — 
sharply  enough  now. 

"  Oh,  nothing." 

"  I  consider  you  are  very  impertinent.  Why  should  I  ask 
for  an  invitation  for  Mr.  Miles  ?  What  would  that  imply  ?  Do 
you  suppose  I  particularly  wish  him  to  be  there  ?" 

"  Oh,  I  didn't  mean  to  offend,"  Lionel  said,  quite  humbly. 
"  Only — you  see — the  other  night  you  showed  me  that  ingeni- 
ous dodge  of  covering  the  ring  you  wear  with  a  bit  of  white 
india-rubber — and — and  I  thought  it  might  be  an  engagement 
ring — worn  on  that  finger — " 

"  Then  you're  quite  wrong,  Mr.  Clever,"  said  the  voice. 
"  That  ring  was  given  me  by  a  very  dear  friend,  a  very,  very 
dear  friend — I  won't  tell  you  whether  a  he  or  a  she — and  it  fits 
that  finger ;  but  all  the  same  I  don't  want  the  public  to  think  I 
am  engaged.     So  there — for  your  wonderful  guessing  !" 


234  PRINCE    F0RTUNATU8. 

"  I'm  sure  I  beg  your  pardon,"  said  he  ;  "1  didn't  mean  to 
be  inquisitive." 

But  at  this  moment  the  intervening  curtains  were  thrown 
open,  and  here  was  Grace  Mainwaring,  in  full  panoply  of  white 
satin  and  pearls  and  powdered  hair.  She  was  followed  by  her 
maid.  She  went  to  the  long  mirror  in  this  larger  room,  and  be- 
gan to  put  the  finishing  touches  to  the  set  of  her  costume  and 
also  to  her  make-up.  Then  she  told  Jane  to  go  and  get  the 
inner  room  tidied ;  and  when  the  maid  had  disappeared  she 
turned  to  the  young  baritone. 

"  Mr.  Moore,"  said  she,  rather  pointedly,  "  you  are  not  very 
communicative." 

"  In  what  way  ?" 

"  I  understand  you  are  going  to  take  Miss  Ross  and  Miss  Gi- 
rond  down  to  Richmond  on  Sunday  ;  I  don't  see  myself  why 
you  should  conceal  it." 

"  I  never  thought  of  concealing  it !"  he  exclaimed,  with  a  lit- 
tle surprise.  "  Why  should  a  trifling  arrangement  like  that  be 
concealed — or  mentioned  either  ?" 

Miss  Burgoyne  regarded  herself  in  the  mirror  again,  and 
touched  her  white  wig  here  and  there  and  the  black  beauty- 
spots  on  her  cheek  and  chin. 

"  I  have  been  told,"  she  remarked,  rather  scornfully, "  that 
gentlemen  are  fond  of  the  society  of  chorus-girls — I  suppose  they 
enjoy  a  certain  freedom  there  that  they  don't  meet  elsewhere." 

"  Neither  Miss  Ross  nor  Miss  Girond  is  a  chorus-girl,"  he  said 
— though  he  wasn't  going  to  lose  his  temper  over  nothing. 

"  They  have  both  sung  in  the  chorus,"  she  retorted,  snap- 
pishly. 

"  That  is  neither  here  nor  there,"  he  said.  "  Why,  what  does 
it  matter  how  we  go  down,  when  we  shall  all  meet  there  on  a 
common  footing?  It  was  an  obviously  simple  arrangement — 
Sloane  Street  is  on  my  way,  whether  I  go  by  road  or  rail — " 

"  Oh,  pray  don't  make  any  apology  to  me — /  am  not  interest- 
ed in  the  question,"  she  observed,  in  a  most  lofty  manner,  as  she 
still  afEectcd  to  be  examining  her  dress  in  the  mirror. 

"  I  wasn't  making  any  apology  to  anybody,"  he  said, 
bluntly, 

"  Or  explanation,"  she  continued,  in  the  same  tone.  "  You 
seem  to  have  a  strange  fancy  for  foreigners,  Mr.  Moore ;  and  I 


PRINCE    F0RTUNATU8.  235 

suppose  they  are  glad  to  be  allowed  to  practice  talking  with  any 
one  who  can  speak  decent  English." 

"  Nina — I  mean  Miss  Ross — is  an  old  friend  of  mine,"  he 
said,  just  beginning  to  chafe  a  little.  "  It  is  a  very  small  piece 
of  courtesy  that  I  should  offer  to  see  her  safely  down  to  Rich- 
mond, when  she  is  a  stranger,  with  hardly  any  other  acquaint- 
ance in  London — " 

"  But  pray  don't  make  any  excuse  to  me — what  have  /  to  do 
with  it  ?"  Miss  Burgoyne  said,  sweetly.  And  then,  as  she  gath- 
ered up  her  long  train  and  swung  it  over  her  arm,  she  added, 
'*  Will  you  kindly  open  the  door  for  me,  Mr.  Moore  ?"  And 
therewith  she  passed  out  and  along  the  corridor  and  up  into 
the  wings — he  attending  her,  for  he  also  was  wanted  in  this 
scene. 

Well,  Miss  Burgoyne  might  drive  down  to  Richmond  with 
Lord  Dcnysf ort  or  with  any  one  else  ;  he  was  not  going  to  forsake 
Nina.  On  the  afternoon  appointed,  just  as  it  was  dark,  he  called 
at  the  house  in  Sloane  Street,  and  found  the  two  young  ladies 
ready,  with  nothing  but  their  bonnets  to  put  on.  Both  of  them, 
he  thought,  were  very  prettily  dressed  ;  but  Nina's  costume  had 
a  somewhat  severe  grace,  and,  indeed,  rather  comported  with 
Nina's  demeanor  towards  this  little  French  chatterbox,  whom 
she  seemed  to  regard  with  a  kind  of  grave  and  young-matronly 
consideration  and  forbearance.  When  they  had  got  into  the 
brougham  which  was  waiting  outside  for  them  and  had  started 
away  for  Putney  Bridge,  it  was  Mile.  Girond  who  was  merry  and 
excited  and  talkative  ;  Nina  only  listened,  in  good-humored 
amusement.  Mile.  Girond  had  never  been  to  Richmond,  but 
she  had  heard  of  it;  she  knew  all  about  the  beautiful  view  and 
the  terrace  overlooking  the  river,  and  she  was  promising  herself 
the  romance  and  charm  of  a  stroll  in  the  moonlight. 

"  I  don't  see  much  sign  of  that  full  moon  as  yet,"  Lionel  said 
to  her,  peering  through  the  window  of  the  brougham,  "  but  I 
suppose  the  glare  of  the  gas-lamps  would  hide  it  in  any  case. 
However,  there's  a  good  deal  of  fog  always  along  the  Thames 
at  this  time  of  year ;  don't  be  disappointed.  Miss  Girond,  if  you 
have  to  remain  in-doors.  Indeed,  it  is  far  too  cold  to  go  wan- 
dering about  among  statues  in  the  moonlight." 

"  And  if  in  the  dark,  they  will  be  all  the  more  mysterieuz,  do 
you  not  think?"  said  Mile.  Girond,  eagerly.     "And  there  will 


336  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

be  surprises — perhaps  a  laugh,  perhaps  a  shriek — if   you  run 
against  some  one." 

"  Oh,  no,  I  am  not  going  to  allow  anything  of  that  kind,"  said 
he.  "  I  have  to  look  after  you  young  ladies,  and  you  must  con- 
duct yourselves  with  the  strictest  decorum." 

"  Yes,  for  Nina,"  Mile.  Girond  cried,  gayly.  "  That  is  for 
Nina — for  me,  no !  I  will  have  some  amusement,  or  I  will  run 
away.  Who  gave  you  control  of  me,  monsieur?  I  thank  you, 
but  I  do  not  wish  it." 

"  Estelle  !"  said  Nina,  in  tones  of  grave  reproach. 

"  Ah !"  said  the  wilful  young  lady,  and  she  put  out  the  tips 
of  her  fingers  as  though  she  would  shake  away  from  her  these 
too-serious  companions.  "  You  have  become  English,  Nina. 
Very  well.  If  I  have  no  more  gay  companion,  I  go  out  and 
seek  a  statue — I  beckon  to  him — I  defy  him — ah  !  he  freezes 
me — he  nods  his  head — it  is  the  Commendatore !"  And  then 
she  sang,  in  portentous  bass  notes — 

"  Don  Giovanni,  a  cenar  teco 
M'  invitasti — h  son  venuto !" 

Lionel  let  down  the  window. 

*'  Do  you  see  that.  Miss  Girond  ?" 

Far  away,  above  the  blue  mists  and  the  jet-black  trees  (for 
they  were  out  in  the  country  by  this  time),  hung  a  small,  opaque 
disk  of  dingy  orange. 

*'  It  is  the  moon,  Leo  !"  cried  Nina.     "  Ah,  but  so  dull !" 

"  That  is  the  fog  lying  over  the  low  country,"  he  said  ;  "  it 
may  be  clearer  when  we  get  to  the  top  of  the  hill.  It  is  to  be 
hoped  so,  at  all  events.  Fancy  a  theatrical  company  going  out 
to  a  rustic  festivity  and  not  provided  with  a  better  moon  than 
that !" 

Ilowever,  when  they  finally  reached  the  Star  and  Garter, 
they  had  forgotten  about  the  moon  and  the  aspect  of  the  night ; 
for  here  were  the  wide  steps  and  the  portico  all  ablaze  with  a 
friendly  yellow  glow ;  and  just  inside  stood  Mr.  Lehmann,  with 
the  most  shining  shirt-front  ever  beheld,  receiving  his  guests 
as  they  arrived.  Here,  too,  was  Lord  Denysfort,  a  feeble-look- 
ing young  man,  with  huge  ears  and  no  chin  to  speak  of,  who, 
however,  had  shown  some  sense  in  engaging  a  professional  whip 
to  drive  the  four-in-hand  down  through  the  fog.  Of  course 
there  was  a  good   deal  of  bustle  and   hurry  and  confusion — 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  237 

friends  anxious  about  the  non-arrival  of  other  friends  and  so 
forth — in  the  midst  of  which  Lionel  said  to  his  two  compan- 
ions, 

"  Dinner  will  be  a  long  time  yet.  The  ladies  who  have  driven 
down  will  be  making  themselves  beautiful  for  another  quarter 
of  an  hour.  Suppose  we  go  out  on  the  balcony,  and  see  whether 
any  of  Miss  Girond's  statues  are  visible." 

They  agreed  to  this,  for  they  had  not  taken  off  their  cloaks ; 
so  he  led  them  along  the  hall  and  round  by  a  smaller  passage 
to  a  door  which  he  opened ;  they  got  outside,  and  found  them- 
selves in  the  hushed,  still  night.  Below  them,  on  the  wide  ter- 
race, they  could  make  out  the  wan,  gray,  plaster  pillars  and  pedi- 
ments and  statues  among  the  jet-black  shrubs ;  but  beyond  that 
all  was  chaos ;  the  river  and  the  wooded  valley  were  shrouded 
in  a  dense  mist,  pierced  only  here  and  there  by  a  small  orange 
ray — some  distant  window  or  lamp.  They  wandered  down  the 
wide  steps ;  they  crossed  to  the  parapet ;  they  gazed  into  that 
great  unknown  gulf,  in  which  they  could  descry  nothing  but 
one  or  two  spectral  black  trees,  their  topmost  branches  coming 
up  into  the  clearer  air.  Then  they  walked  along  to  the  southern 
end  of  the  terrace ;  and  here  they  came  in  sight  of  the  moon — 
a  far-distant  world  on  fire  it  seemed  to  be,  especially  when  the  som- 
bre golden  radiance  touched  a  passing  tag  of  cloud  and  changed  it 
into  lurid  smoke.  All  the  side  of  the  vast  building  looking  tow- 
ards them  was  dark — save  for  one  window  that  burned  red. 

*'  Is  that  where  we  dine  ?"  asked  Nina,  as  they  returned. 

"  Oh,  no,"  Lionel  answered.  "  Our  room  is  at  the  end  of 
the  passage  by  which  we  came  out — I  suppose  the  shutters  are 
closed.     I  fancy  that  is  the  coffee-room." 

"  I  am  going  to  have  a  peep  in,"  Mile.  Girond  said,  as  they 
ascended  the  steps  again ;  and  when  they  had  reached  the  bal- 
cony she  went  along  to  the  window,  leaving  her  companions 
behind,  for  they  did  not  share  in  this  childish  curiosity.  But 
the  next  moment  little  Capitaine  Crepin  came  back,  in  a  great 
state  of  excitement. 

"  Come,  come,  come  !"  she  said,  breathlessly.  "  Ah,  the  poor 
young  gentleman — all  alone  ! — my  heart  feels  for  him — Mr. 
Moore,  it  is  piteous." 

"  Well,  what  have  you  discovered  now  ?"  said  Lionel,  indif- 
ferently, for  he  was  getting  hungry. 


238  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  Come  and  see — come  and  see  !  All  alone — no  one  to  say  a 
word — " 

Lionel  and  Nina  followed  their  eager  guide  along  the  dark 
balcony,  until  they  had  got  near  the  brilliant  red  window.  They 
looked  in.  The  room  was  bright  with  crimson-shaded  lamps, 
and  its  solitary  occupant  they  made  out  clearly  enough ;  it  was 
Mr.  Percival  Miles — in  evening  dress,  standing  before  the  fire- 
place, gazing  into  the  coals,  his  hands  in  his  pockets, 

"  Ah,"  said  Nina,  as  she  quickly  drew  back,  "  that  is  the 
young  gentleman  who  sometimes  waits  for  Miss  Burgoyne,  is  it 
not,  Leo  ?    And  he  is  all  by  himself.     It  is  hard," 

"  You  think  it  is  hard,  Nina  ?"  Lionel  said,  turning  to  her,  as 
the  three  spies  simultaneously  withdrew, 

*'  Oh,  yes,  yes  !"    Nina  exclaimed, 

"  Well,  you  see,"  continued  Lionel,  as  he  opened  the  glass 
door  to  let  his  campanions  re-enter  the  hotel,  "  an  outsider  who 
comes  skylarking  after  an  actress,  and  finds  her  surrounded  by 
her  professional  friends  and  her  professional  interests,  has  to 
undergo  a  good  deal  of  tribulation.  That  poor  fellow  has 
come  down  here  to  dine  all  by  himself,  merely  to  be  near 
her.  But,  mind  you,  it  was  that  same  fellow  who  wanted  to 
kill  me." 

"  He,  kill  you  !"  Nina  said,  scornfully.  "  You  allowed  him 
to  live — yes  ?" 

"  But  I  don't  bear  any  malice.  No,  I  don't.  I'm  going  to 
make  that  boy  just  the  very  happiest  young  man  there  is  in  the 
kingdom  of  Great  Britain  this  evening." 

"  Ah,  I  know,  I  know  !"  exclaimed  Nina,  delightedly. 

"  Oh,  no,  you  don't  know.  You  don't  know  anything  about 
it.  What  you  and  Miss  Girond  have  got  to  do  now  is  to  go 
into  the  cloak-room  and  leave  your  things,  and  afterwards  I'll 
meet  you  in  the  dining-room," 

"  Yes,  but  you  arc  going  to  Mr,  Lehmann  !"  said  Nina,  with 
a  laugh,  "  I  do  not  know? — yes,  I  do  know.  Ah,  that  is  gen- 
erous of  you,  Leo — that  is  noble," 

"  Noble? — trash  !"  he  said;  and  he  hurried  these  young  peo- 
ple along  to  the  disrobiiig-room  and  left  thein  there.  Then  he 
went  to  the  manager,  who  was  still  in  the  hall. 

"  I  say,"  he  began,  without  more  ado,  "  there's  a  young  friend 
of  mine  in  this  hotel  whom  1  wish  you'd  invite  to  dine  with  us." 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  239 

The  manager  looked  rather  startled — then  hesitated — then 
stroked  his  waxed  moustache. 

"  I — I  presume  a  gentleman  friend  ?" 

"  Yes,  of  course,"  said  Lionel,  angrily.  "  It's  a  Percival 
Miles — why,  you  must  have  heard  of  Sir  Barrington  Miles,  and 
this  is  his  eldest  son,  though  he's  quite  a  young  fellow — " 

"  Oh,  very  well ;  oh,  yes,  certainly  !"  said  Mr.  Lehmann,  ap- 
parently very  much  relieved.     "  Will  you  ask  him  ?" 

"  Well,  no,  I  can't  exactly,"  Lionel  said.  "  But  I  will  send 
him  a  formal  note  in  your  name — '  Mr.  Lehmann  presents  his 
compliments' — may  I?" 

"  All  right ;  but  dinner  will  be  served  almost  directly.  Would 
you  mind  telling  the  waiters  to  lay  another  cover  ?" 

About  five  minutes  thereafter,  when  the  company  had  swarmed 
into  the  dining-room — most  of  them  chatting  and  laughing,  but 
the  more  business-like  looking  for  their  allotted  places  at  table — 
Mr.  Percival  Miles  put  in  an  appearance,  very  shy  and  perhaps  a 
little  bewildered,  for  he  knew  not  to  whom  he  owed  this  invi- 
tation. Lionel  had  got  a  seat  for  him  between  Mile.  Girond 
and  Mr.  Carey,  the  musical  conductor ;  if  he  could,  and  if  he 
had  dared,  he  would  have  placed  him  next  Miss  Burgoyne ;  but 
Miss  Burgoyne  was  at  the  head  of  the  table,  between  Lord 
Denysfort  and  Mr.  Lehmann — besides,  that  fiery  young  lady 
might  have  taken  sudden  cause  of  offence.  As  it  was,  the  young 
gentleman  could  gaze  upon  her  from  afar ;  and  she  had  bowed 
to  him — with  some  surprise  clearly  showing  in  her  face — just 
as  their  eyes  had  met  on  his  coming  into  the  room.  Lionel  was 
next  to  Nina ;  he  had  arranged  that. 

It  was  a  protracted  banquet,  and  a  merry  one  withal ;  there 
was  a  perfect  Babel  of  noise  ;  and  the  excellent  old  custom  of 
drinking  healths  with  distant  friends  was  freely  adopted.  Miss 
Girond  did  her  best  to  amuse  the  good-looking  boy  whom  she 
had  been  instrumental  in  rescuing  from  his  solitary  dinner  in 
the  coffee-room ;  but  he  did  not  respond  as  he  ought  to  have 
done  ;  from  time  to  time  he  glanced  wistfully  towards  the  head 
of  the  table,  where  Miss  Burgoyne  was  gayly  chatting  with  Lord 
Denysfort.  As  for  Nina,  Nina  was  very  quiet,  but  very  much 
interested,  as  her  dark,  expressive  eyes  eloquently  showed. 

"It  is  so  beautiful,  Leo,"  she  said.  "  Every  one  looks  so 
well ;  is  it  the  light  reflected  from  the  table  ?"    And  then  she 


240  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

Raid,  in  a  lower  tone,  "  Do  you  see  Miss  Burgoyne,  Leo  ?  She 
is  acting  all  the  time.     She  is  acting  to  the  whole  table." 

"  That  Albanian  jacket  of  hers  is  gorgeous  enough,  anyway," 
Lionel  responded ;  he  was  not  much  interested  apparently  in  the 
question  of  Miss  Burgoyne's  behavior. 

'V\Tien  dinner  had  been  some  little  time  over,  the  women-folk 
went  away  and  got  WTaps  and  shawls,  and  the  whole  company 
passed  outside,  the  men  lighting  their  cigars  at  the  top  of  the 
steps.  The  heavens  overhead  were  now  perfectly  clear ;  the 
moonlight  shone  full  on  the  long  terrace,  with  its  parapets  and 
pedestals  and  plaster  figures,  while  all  the  world  below  was 
shut  away  in  a  dense  fog.  Indeed,  as  the  various  groups  idly 
walked  about  or  stood  and  talked — their  shadows  sharply  cut 
as  out  of  ebony  on  the  white  stone — the  whole  scene  was  most 
extraordinary ;  for  it  appeared  as  though  these  people  were  the 
sole  occupants  of  some  region  in  cloud-land — a  clear-shining 
region  raised  high  above  the  forgotten  earth. 

"  Lehmann  is  lucky,"  Lionel  said  to  Nina.  "  I  thought  his 
moonlight  effect  was  going  to  be  a  failure." 

Miss  Girond  came  up,  in  an  eager  and  excited  fashion. 

"  Nina !" 

"  What  is  it,  Estelle  ?" 

"  Monsieur  of  the  pretty  face,"  she  said,  in  a  whisper,  "  oh, 
so  sad  he  was  all  dinner ! — regarding  Miss  Burgoyne,  and  she 
coquetting,  oh,  frightful,  frightful ! — but  it  is  all  right  now — 
he  was  at  the  door  when  we  come  out — he  takes  her  hand — 
'How  you  do.  Miss  Burgoyne?'  —  'Oh,  how  you  do,  Mr. 
Miles  ?' — and  he  leads  her  away  before  she  can  go  to  any  one 
else.  And  there — away  down  there — do  you  see  them  ?  He 
has  compensation,  do  you  think  ?" 

She  drew  Nina  a  little  aside,  and  sang  into  her  ear — 

"  — Cc  soir,  as-tu  vn 
La  fillc  k  notro  inattre, 

D'un  air  r6solu 
Guettant  k  sa  fenetre? 

Eh  bicn  !  qu'cn  (lis  tu  ? 

— Je  dis  que  j'ai  tout  vu, 

Mais  jc  n'ai  rien  cru ; 

Je  I'aiine,  jo  raiino, 

Je  raime  quand  nieme !" 

and  then  she  broke  into  a  malicious  laucfh. 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  241 

"  What  are  you  two  conspiring  about  now  ?"  Lionel  asked — 
from  the  bench  on  which  he  had  carelessly  seated  himself,  the 
better  to  enjoy  his  cigar. 

"  You  must  know  the  consequence  of  doing  a  good  action, 
Leo,"  Nina  said  to  him.  "  Do  you  see  the  black  bushes — yon- 
der— and  the  two  figures  ?  Estelle  says  it  is  Miss  Burgoyne  and 
the  young  gentleman  who  would  have  been  all  alone  but  that 
you  intercede.     Is  he  not  owing  a  great  deal  to  you  ?" 

"  Well,  Nina,  if  there  is  any  gratitude  in  woman's  bosom,  Miss 
Burgoyne  ought  to  be  indebted  to  me  too.  She  has  got  her 
pretty  dear.  I  dare  say  he  would  have  managed  to  procure  a 
little  interview  with  her,  in  some  surreptitious  way,  in  any  case 
— I  dare  say  that  was  his  intention  in  coming  down ;  but  now 
that  he  is  one  of  the  party,  one  of  the  guests,  she  can  talk  to 
him  before  every  one.  And  since  I  have  been  the  means  of 
bringing  the  pair  of  turtle-doves  together,  I  hope  they're 
happy." 

"Ah,  Leo,  you  do  not  understand,"  Nina  said  to  him — for 
Miss  Girond  was  now  talking  to  Mr.  Carey,  who  had  come  up. 

"  I  don't  understand  what  ?" 

"  You  do  not  understand  Miss  Burgoyne,"  said  Nina. 

"  AYhat  don't  I  understand  about  her,  then  ?" 

Nina  shook  her  head. 

"  Why  should  I  say  ?  You  will  not  believe.  Perhaps  slie  is 
grateful  to  you  for  bringing  in  that  young  man — yes,  perhaps — 
but  if  she  would  rather  have  yourself  to  go  and  talk  with  her 
and  be  her  companion  before  all  those  people  ?  Oh,  you  do  not 
believe  ?  No,  you  are  too  modest — as  she  is  vain  and  jealous. 
All  during  the  dinner  she  was  playing  coquette,  openly,  for 
every  one  to  see ;  Estelle  says  it  was  to  pique  the  young  man 
who  came  from  the  other  room ;  no,  Leo,  it  was  not — it  was 
meant  for  you  !" 

"  Oh,  nonsense,  Nina  ! — I  wasn't  thinking  anything  about  her !" 

"  Does  she  think  that,  Leo  ?"  Nina  said  to  him,  gently.  "  Ah, 
you  do  not  know  that  woman.  She  is  clever ;  she  is  cunning  ; 
she  wishes  to  have  the  fame  of  being  associated  with  you — even 
in  a  photograph  for  the  shop-windows ;  and  you  are  so  blind  ! 
The  duel  ? — yes,  she  would  have  liked  that,  too,  for  the  news- 
papers to  speak  about  it,  and  the  public  to  talk,  and  her  name 
and  yours  together ;  but  then  she  says,  '  No,  he  will  owe  more 
11 


3i2  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

to  rae  if  I  interfere  and  get  an  apology  for  him.'  It  is  one  way 
or  the  other  way — anything  to  win  your  attention — that  you 
should  care  for  her  —  and  that  you  should  show  it  to  the 
world—" 

"  Nina,  Nina,"  said  he,  "  you  want  to  make  me  outrageously 
vain.  Do  you  imagine  she  had  a  single  thought  for  me  when 
she  had  Lord  Denysfort  to  carry  on  with — he  hasn't  much  in 
his  head,  poor  devil !  but  a  title  goes  a  long  way  in  the  theatrical 
world — and  when  she  could  practise  on  the  susceptibilities  of 
her  humble  adorer  who  was  further  down  the  table?  Oh,  I 
fancy  Miss  Burgoyne  had  enough  to  occupy  herself  with  this 
evening  without  thinking  of  me.  She  was  quite  busy." 
,  "  Ah,  you  do  not  understand,  Leo,"  Nina  said.  "  But  some 
day  you  may  understand — if  Miss  Burgoyne  still  finds  you  in- 
different, and  becomes  angry.  But  before  that,  she  will  try 
much — " 

"  Nina !" 

"  You  will  see,  Leo  !"  Nina  said ;  and  that  was  all  she  could 
say  just  then,  for  Mr.  Lehmaun  came  up  to  take  the  general 
vote  as  to  whether  they  would  rather  have  tea  out  there  in  the 
moonlight  or  return  to  the  dining-room. 

But  any  doubt  as  to  the  manner  in  which  Miss  Burgoyne  re- 
garded his  intercession  on  behalf  of  Mr.  Percival  Miles  was 
removed,  and  that  in  a  most  summary  fashion,  by  the  young 
lady'  herself.  As  they  were  about  to  leave  the  hotel,  the  men 
were  standing  about  in  the  hall,  chatting  at  haphazard  or  light- 
ing a  fresh  cigar,  while  they  waited  for  the  women-folk  to  get 
ready.  Lionel  saw  Miss  Burgoyne  coming  along  the  corridor, 
and  was  glad  of  the  chance  of  saying  good-night  to  her  before 
she  got  on  to  the  front  of  Lord  Denysfort's  drag.  But  it  was 
not  good-night  that  Miss  Burgoyne  had  in  her  mind. 

"  Mr.  Moore,"  she  said,  when  she  came  up,  and  she  spoke  in 
a  low,  clear,  incisive  voice  that  considerably  startled  him.  "  I 
am  told  it  was  through  you  that  that  boy  was  invited  to  the  din- 
ner to-night." 

He  looked  at  her  in  amazement. 

"Well,  what  then?"  he  exclaimed.  "What  was  the  objec- 
tion? I  tliought  he  was  a  friend  of  yours.  That  boy  ?-^— that 
boy  is  a  sufficiently  important  person,  surely — heir  to  the  Pet- 
mansworth  estates — why,  I  should  have  thought — " 


^b 


'^  :^ 


PRINCE    F0RTUNATU8.  243 

She  interrupted  him. 

"  I  consider  it  a  gross  piece  of  impertinence,"  she  said, 
haughtily.  "  I  suppose  you  thought  you  were  conferring  a  fa- 
vor on  me!  How  dared  you  assume  that  any  one — that  any 
one — wished  him  to  be  present  in  that  room  ?" 

She  turned  proudly  away  from  him,  without  waiting  for  his 
reply. 

"  Lord  Denysfort,  here  I  am,"  said  she ;  and  the  chinless 
young  man  with  the  large  ears  gave  her  his  arm  and  conducted 
her  down  the  steps.     Lionel  looked  after  her — bewildered. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

"  LET    THE    STRUCKEN  DEER    GO   WEEP." 

But  if  Lionel  regarded  this  constant  association  with  Xina — 
this  unreserved  discussion  of  all  their  private  affairs — even  the 
sort  of  authority  and  guidance  he  exercised  over  her  at  times — 
as  so  simple  and  natural  a  thing  that  it  was  unnecessary  to  pause 
and  ask  whither  it  might  tend,  what  about  Xina  herself  ?  She 
was  quite  alone  in  England ;  she  had  more  regard  for  the 
future  than  he  had ;  what  if  certain  wistful  hopes,  concealed  al- 
most from  herself,  had  sprung  up  amid  all  this  intimate  and 
frankly  affectionate  companionship  ? 

One  morning  she  and  Estelle  were  walking  in  to  Regent 
Street,  to  examine  proofs  of  certain  photographs  that  had  been 
taken  of  them  both  (for  Clara  figured  in  the  shop-windows  now, 
as  well  as  Capitaine  Crepin).  Nina  was  very  merry  and  viva- 
cious on  this  sufficiently  bright  forenoon ;  and  to  please  Estelle 
she  was  talking  French — her  French  being  fluent  enough,  if  it 
was  not  quite  perfect  as  to  accent.  They  were  passing  along 
Piccadilly,  when  she  stopped  at  a  certain  shop. 

"  Come,  I  show  you  something,"  she  said. 

Estelle  followed  her  in.  The  moment  the  shopman  saw  who 
it  was  he  did  not  wait  to  be  questioned. 

"  It  is  quite  ready,  miss ;  I  was  just  about  to  send  it  down." 

He  brought  forward  the  double  loving-cup  that  Lionel  had 
given  to  Nina;  and  as  the  young  lady  took  it  into  her  hands 
she  glanced  at  the  rim.     Yes;  the  inscription  was  quite  right : 


244  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  From  Leo  to  Nina  " — that  was  the  simple  legend  she  had  had 
engraved. 

"  Here  is  the  cup  I  spoke  of,  Estelle ;  is  it  not  beautiful  ? 
And  then  I  would  not  trouble  Lionel  to  have  the  inscription 
made — I  told  him  I  would  have  it  done  myself  and  asked  him 
what  the  words  should  be — behold  it !" 

The  cup  was  duly  admired  and  handed  back  to  be  sent  down 
to  Sloane  Street ;  then  Estelle  and  she  left  the  shop  together. 

"  Oh,  yes,  it  is  very  beautiful,"  said  the  former,  continuing 
to  speak  in  her  native  tongue,  "  and  a  very  distinguished  pres- 
ent ;  but  there  is  something  still  more  piquant  that  he  will  be 
buying  for  you  ere  long — can  you  not  guess,  Nina  ? — no  ? — not 
a  wedding-i'ing  ?" 

The  audacity  of  the  question  somewhat  disconcerted  Nina  ; 
but  she  met  it  with  no  sham  denial,  no  affected  protest. 

"  He  has  not  spoken  to  me,  Estelle,"  Nina  said,  gravely  and 
simply.  "  And  sometimes  I  ask  myself  if  it  is  not  better  we 
should  remain  as  we  are — we  are  such  good  friends  and  com- 
panions. We  are  happy  ;  we  have  plenty  to  occupy  ourselves 
with ;  why  undertake  more  serious  cares  ?  Perhaps  that  is  all 
that  Lionel  thinks  of  it ;  and,  if  it  is  so,  I  am  content.  And 
then  sometimes,  Estelle,  I  ask  myself  if  it  would  not  be  better 
for  him  to  marry — when  he  has  made  his  choice,  that  is  to  say ; 
and  I  picture  him  and  his  young  wife  living  very  happily  in  a 
quite  small  establishment — perhaps  two  or  three  rooms  only, 
in  one  of  those  large  buildings  in  Victoria  Street — and  every- 
thing very  pretty  around  them,  with  their  music  and  their  occu- 
pations and  the  visits  of  friends.  Would  not  that  be  for  him  a 
life  far  more  satisfactory  than  liis  present  distractions — the  gaye- 
ties  and  amusements — the  invitations  of  strangers  ?" 

"  Yes,  yes,  yes !"  her  companion  cried,  with  instant  assent. 
"  Ah,  Nina,  I  can  see  you  the  most  charming  young  house-mis- 
tress— I  can  see  you  receive  your  guests  when  they  come  for 
afternoon  music — you  wear  a  tea-gown  of  brocade  the  color  of 
wall-flower,  with  cream-colored  lace — you  speak  French,  Eng- 
lish, Italian  as  it  is  necessary  for  this  one  and  that — your  musical 
reunions  are  known  everywhere.  Will  madame  permit  the  poor 
Estelle  to  be  present? — Estelle,  wlio  will  not  dare  to  sing  before 
those  celebrated  ones,  but  who  will  applaud,  applaud — in  herself 
a  prodigious  claque!     And  now,  behold!     Miss  Pinrgoyne  ar- 


PKINCE    FORTUNATUS.  345 

rives — Miss  Burgoyne  in  grand  state — and  nevertheless  you  are 
her  dear  Nina,  her  charming  friend,  although  in  her  heart  she 
hates  you  for  having  carried  off  the  handsome  Lionel — " 

"  Estelle,"  said  Nina,  gently,  "  you  let  your  tongue  run  avpay. 
When  I  picture  to  myself  Lionel  in  the  future,  I  leave  the  space 
beside  him  empty.  Who  is  to  fill  it? — perhaps  he  has  never 
given  a  thought  to  that.  Perhaps  it  will  always  be  empty  ;  per- 
haps one  of  his  fashionable  friends  will  suddenly  appear  there, 
who  knows  ?  He  does  not  seem  ever  to  look  forward ;  if  I  re- 
monstrate about  his  expenditure,  he  laughs.  And  why  should 
he  give  me  things  of  value  ?  I  am  not  covetous.  If  he  wishes 
to  express  kindness,  is  not  a  word  better  than  any  silver  cup  ? 
If  he  wishes  to  be  remembered  when  he  is  absent,  would  not 
the  smallest  message  sent  in  a  letter  be  of  more  value  than  a 
bracelet  with  sapphires — " 

"  Oh,  Nina,"  her  companion  exclaimed,  laughing,  "  what  a 
thing  to  say  ! — that  you  would  rather  have  a  scrap  of  writing 
from  Lionel  Moore  than  a  bracelet  with  sapphires — " 

"  No,  Estelle,  I  did  not,"  Nina  protested,  rather  indignantly ; 
"  I  was  talking  of  the  value  of  presents  generally,  and  of  their 
use  or  uselessness." 

"  And  yet  you  seemed  very  proud  of  that  loving-cup,  Nina, 
and  of  the  inscription  on  it,"  Estelle  said,  demurely ;  and  there 
the  subject  ended,  for  they  were  now  approaching  the  photog- 
rapher's. 

It  was  a  Saturday  night  that  Honnor  Cunyngham  and  her 
mother — who  had  come  up  from  Brighton  for  a  few  days — had 
been  induced  to  fix  for  their  visit  to  the  New  Theatre ;  and  as 
the  evening  drew  near,  Lionel  became  more  and  more  anxious, 
so  that  he  almost  regretted  having  persuaded  them.  All  his 
other  troubles  and  worries  he  could  at  once  carry  to  Nina, 
whose  cheerful  common-sense  and  abundant  courage  made  light 
of  them  and  lent  him  heart ;  but  this  one  he  had  to  ponder  over 
by  himself ;  he  did  not  care  to  tell  Nina  with  what  concern  he 
looked  forward  to  the  impressions  that  Miss  Cunyngham  might 
form  of  himself  and  his  surroundings  when  brought  immediate- 
ly into  contact  with  them.  And  yet  he  was  not  altogether 
silent. 

"  You  see  how  it  is,  Nina,"  he  said,  in  tones  of  deep  vexation. 
"  That  fellow  Collier  has  been  allowed  to  gag  and  gag  until  the 


346  PRINCE    KORTUNATUS. 

whole  piece  is  filled  with  his  music-hall  tomfoolery,  and  the 
music  has  been  made  quite  subsidiary.  I  wonder  Lehmann 
doesn't  get  a  lot  of  acrobats  and  conjurors,  and  let  Miss  Bur- 
goyne  and  you  and  me  stop  at  home.  "  The  Squire's  Daugh- 
ter" is  really  a  very  pretty  piece,  with  some  delightful  melody 
running  through  it ;  but  that  fellow  has  vulgarized  it  into  the 
lowest  burlesque." 

"  What  does  it  matter  to  you,  Leo  ?"  Nina  said.  "  What  he 
does  is  separate  from  you.     He  cannot  vulgarize  your  singing." 

"  But  he  makes  all  that  clowning  of  his  so  important — it  has 
become  so  big  a  feature  of  the  piece  that  any  friends  of  yours 
coming  to  see  the  little  opera  might  very  naturally  say,  '  Oh,  is 
this  the  kind  of  thing  he  figures  in  ?  This  is  an  intellectual  en- 
tertainment, truly  !' " 

"  But  you  do  not  join  in  it,  Leo !"  Nina  protested. 

"  In  the  most  gagging  scene  of  all,  I've  got  to  stand  and  look 
on  the  whole  time  !"  he  said. 

"  Oh,  no,  Leo,"  Nina  said,  with  mock  sympathy,  "  you  can 
listen  to  Miss  Burgoyne  as  she  talks  to  you  from  behind  her 
fan." 

"  Those  two  ladies  I  told  you  of,"  he  continued,  *'  who  are 
coming  on  Saturday  night — I  wonder  what  they  will  think  of 
all  that  low-comedy  stuff.  I  begin  to  wish  I  hadn't  asked  them 
to  come  behind,  but  I  thought  it  might  be  a  sort  of  induce- 
ment. Miss  Cunyngham  was  very  kind  to  me  when  I  was  in 
the  Highlands,  and  this  was  all  I  could  think  of ;  but  I  don't 
think  she  has  much  of  the  frivolous  curiosity  of  her  sisters-in- 
law  ;  and  I  am  not  sure  that  her  mother  and  she  would  even 
care  much  for  the  honor  of  having  tea  in  Miss  Burgoyne's  room. 
No,  I  wish  I  hadn't  asked  them." 

"  Do  you  value  their  opinion  so  highly,  then,  Leo  ?"  Nina 
asked,  gently. 

"  Oh,  yes,"  he  said,  with  some  hesitation  — "  that  is,  I 
shouldn't  like  them  to  form  any  unfavorable  impression — to  go 
away  with  any  scornful  feeling  towards  comic  opera,  and  towards 
the  people  engaged  in  it ;  I  should  like  thera  to  think  well  of 
the  piece.  I  suppose  I  couldn't  bribe  Collier  to  leave  out  the 
half  of  his  gag,  or  the  whole  of  it,  for  that  particular  night- 
Did  you  sec  what  one  of  the  papers  said  about  the  400th  per- 
fornjance  ? — that  the  fate  of  "The  Squire's  Daughter"  had  for 


PKINCE    FORTUNATUS.  247 

some  time  been  doubtful,  but  that  it  had  been  saved  by  the  in- 
creased prominence  given  to  the  part  played  by  Mr.  Fred  Col- 
lier ! — a  compliment  to  the  public  taste ! — the  piece  saved  by 
lugging  in  a  lot  of  music-hall  bufioonery  !" 

"  But,  Leo,"  Nina  said,  "  your  friends  who  are  coming  on 
Saturday  night  will  not  think  you  responsible  for  all  that." 

"  People  are  apt  to  judge  of  you  by  your  associates,  Nina," 
he  said,  absently ;  he  was  clearly  looking  forward  to  this  visit 
with  some  compunction,  not  to  say  alarm. 

Then  he  went  to  Miss  Burgoyne.  Miss  Burgoyne  had  forgiven 
him  for  having  introduced  Percival  Miles  to  the  Richmond  din- 
ner-party ;  indeed,  she  was  generally  as  ready  to  forgive  as  she 
was  quick  to  take  offence. 

"  I  wish  you  would  do  me  a  very  great  favor,"  he  said. 

"  What  is  it  ?"  asked  Grace  Mainwaring,  who  was  standing  in 
front  of  the  tall  mirror,  adjusting  the  shining  stars  and  crescents 
that  adorned  her  powdered  hair. 

"  I  suppose  you  could  wear  a  little  nosegay  with  that  dress," 
he  said,  "  of  natural  flowers,  done  up  with  a  bit  of  white  satin 
ribbon,  perhaps,  and  a  silver  tube  and  cord,  or  something  of  that 
kind?"  _ 

"  Flowers  ?"  she  repeated.  "  Oh,  yes,  I  could  wear  them — if 
any  one  were  polite  enough  to  give  me  them." 

"  I  shall  be  delighted  to  send  you  some  every  evening  for  a 
month,  if  you'll  only  do  this  for  me  on  Saturday,"  said  he.  "  It 
is  on  Saturday  night  those  two  ladies  are  coming  to  the  thea- 
tre ;  and  you  were  good  enough  to  promise  to  ask  them  to  your 
room  and  offer  them  some  tea.  The  younger  of  the  two — that 
is,  Miss  Cunyngham — has  never  been  behind  the  scenes  of  a 
theatre  before,  and  I  think  she  will  be  very  pleased  to  be 
introduced  to  Miss  Grace  Mainwaring;  and  don't  you  think  it 
would  be  rather  nice  of  Miss  Grace  Mainwaring  to  take  those 
flowers  from  her  dress  and  present  them  to  the  young  lady,  as  a 
souvenir  of  her  visit  ?" 

She  wheeled  round,  and  looked  at  him  with  a  curious  scru- 
tiny. 

"  Well,  this  is  something  new  !"  she  said,  as  she  turned  to  the 
mirror  again.  "  I  thought  it  was  the  fortunate  Harry  Thornhill 
who  received  all  kinds  of  compliments  and  attentions  from  his 
lady  adorers  ;  I  wasn't  aware  he  ever  returned  them.     But  do 


248  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

you  think  it  is  quite  fair,  Mr,  Moore  ?  If  this  is  some  girl  who 
has  a  love-sick  fancy  for  Harry  Thornhill,  don't  you  think  you 
should  drop  Harry  Thornhill  and  play  David  Garrick,  to  cure  the 
poor  thing  ?" 

"  Considering  that  Miss  Cunyngham  has  never  seen  Harry 
Thornhill,"  he  was  beginning,  when  she  interrupted  him : 

"  Oh,  only  heard  him  sing  in  private  ?  Quite  enough,  I  sup- 
pose, to  put  nonsense  into  a  silly  school-girl's  head." 

"  When  you  see  this  young  lady,"  he  observed,  "  I  don't  think 
you  will  say  she  looks  like  a  silly  school-girl.  She's  nearly  as 
tall  as  I  am,  for  one  thing." 

"  1  hate  giraffes,"  said  Miss  Burgoyne,  tartly.  "  Do  you  put 
a  string  round  her  neck  when  you  go  out  walking  with  her  ?" 

He  was  just  on  the  point  of  saying  something  about  green- 
room manners,  but  thought  better  of  it. 

"  Now,  Miss  Burgoyne,"  he  said  to  her,  "  on  Saturday  night 
you  are  going  to  put  on  your  most  winning  way — you  can  do  it 
when  you  like — and  you  are  going  to  captivate  and  fascinate 
those  two  people  until  they'll  go  away  home  with  the  conviction 
that  you  are  the  most  charming  and  delightful  creature  that  ever 
lived.  You  can  do  it  easily  enough  if  you  like — no  one  better. 
You  are  going  to  be  very  nice  to  them,  and  you'll  send  them 
away  just  in  love  with  Grace  Mainwaring." 

Miss  Burgoyne  altered  her  tone  a  little. 

"  If  I  give  your  giraffe  friend  those  flowers,  I  suppose  you 
expect  me  to  tell  lies  as  well  ?"  she  asked,  with  some  approach 
to  good-humor. 

"  About  what  ?" 

"  Oh,  about  being  delighted  to  make  her  acquaintance,  and 
that  kind  of  thing." 

"  I  have  no  doubt  you  will  be  as  pleased  to  make  her  acquaint- 
ance as  she  will  be  to  make  yours,"  said  he,  "  and  a  few  civil 
words  never  do  any  harm." 

Here  Miss  Burgoyne  was  called.  She  went  to  the  little  side- 
table  and  sipped  some  of  her  homc-brcvved  lemonade ;  then  he 
opened  the  door  for  her,  and  together  they  went  up  into  tlie 
wings. 

"  Tall,  is  she  ?"  continued  Miss  Burgoyne,  as  they  were  look- 
ing on  at  Mr.  Fred  Collier's  buffooneries  out  there  on  the  stage. 
*'  Is  she  as  silent  and  stupid  as  her  brother  ?" 


PRINCE    B'ORTUNATUS.  i^9 

"Her  brother?" 

"  Lord  Rockminster." 

"  Oh,  Lord  Rockminster  isn't  her  brother.  You've  got  them 
mixed  up,"  said  Lioneh  "  Miss  Cunyngham's  brotlier,  Sir 
Hugh,  married  a  sister  of  Lord  Rockminster — the  Lady  Adela 
Cuuyngham  who  came  to  your  room  one  night — don't  you  re- 
member ?" 

"  You  seem  to  have  the  whole  peerage  and  baronetage  at 
your  fingers'  ends,"  said  she,  sullenly ;  and  the  next  moment 
she  was  on  the  stage,  smiling  and  gracious,  and  receiving  her 
father's  guests  with  that  charming  manner  which  the  heroine  of 
the  operetta  could  assume  when  she  chose. 

Even  with  Miss  Burgoyne's  grudgingly  promised  assistance, 
Lionel  still  remained  unaccountably  perturbed  about  that  visit 
of  Lady  Cunyngham  and  her  daughter ;  and  when  on  the  Satur- 
day evening  he  first  became  aware — through  the  confused  glare 
of  the  footlights — that  the  two  ladies  had  come  into  the  box  he 
had  secured  for  them,  it  seemed  to  him  as  though  he  were  re- 
sponsible for  every  single  feature  of  the  performance.  As  for 
himself,  he  was  at  his  best,  and  he  knew  it ;  he  sang,  '  The 
starry  night  brings  me  no  rest'  with  such  a  verve  that  the  en- 
thusiasm of  the  audience  was  unbounded ;  even  Miss  Burgoyne — 
Miss  Grace  Mainwaring,  that  is,  who  was  perched  up  on  a  bit  of 
scaffolding  in  order  to  throw  a  rose  to  her  lover — listened  with  a 
new  interest,  instead  of  being  busy  with  her  ribbons  and  the  set 
of  her  hair  ;  and  when  she  opened  the  casement  in  answer  to  his 
impassioned  appeal,  she  kissed  the  crimson-cotton  blossom  thrice 
ere  she  dropped  it  to  her  enraptured  swain  below.  This  was 
all  very  well ;  but  when  the  comic  man  took  possession  of  the 
stage,  Lionel  —  instead  of  going  off  to  his  dressing-room  to 
glance  at  an  evening  paper  or  have  a  chat  with  some  ac- 
quaintance— remained  in  the  wings,  looking  on  with  an  inde- 
scribable loathing.  This  hideous  farcicality  seemed  more  vulgar 
than  ever ;  what  would  Honnor  Cunyngham  think  of  his  associ- 
ates ?  He  felt  as  if  he  were  an  accomplice  in  foisting  this 
wretched  music-hall  stuff  on  the  public.  And  the  mother — the 
tall  lady  with  the  proud,  fine  features  and  the  grave  and  placid 
voice — what  Avould  she  think  of  the  new  acquaintance  whom 
her  daughter  had  introduced  to  her  ?  Had  it  been  Lady  Adela 
or  her  sisters,  he  would  not  have  cared  one  jot.  They  were 
U* 


250  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS, 

proud  to  be  in  alliance  with  professional  people  ;  they  flattered 
themselves  that  they  rather  belonged  to  the  set — actors,  authors, 
artists,  musicians,  those  busy  and  eager  amateurs  considered  to 
be,  like  themselves,  of  imagination  all  compact.  But  that  he 
should  have  asked  Honnor  Cunyngham  to  come  and  look  on  at 
the  antics  of  this  gaping  and  grinning  fool ;  that  she  should 
know  he  had  to  consort  with  such  folk;  that  she  should  con- 
sider him  an  aider  and  abettor  in  putting  this  kind  of  entertain- 
ment before  the  public — this  galled  him  to  the  quick.  The  mur- 
mur of  the  Aivron  and  the  Geinig  seemed  dinning  in  his  ears. 
If  only  he  could  have  thrown  aside  these  senseless  trappings — 
if  he  were  an  under-keeper  now,  or  a  water-bailiff,  or  even  a 
gillie  looking  after  the  dogs  and  the  ponies,  he  could  have  met 
the  gaze  of  those  clear  hazel  eyes  without  shame.  But  here  he 
was  the  coadjutor  of  this  grimacing  clown  ;  and  she  was  sitting 
in  her  box  there — and  thinking. 

"  What  is  it,  Leo  ?"  said  Nina,  coming  up  to  him  rather  tim- 
idly.    "  You  are  annoyed." 

"  I  have  made  a  mistake,  that  is  all,"  he  said,  rather  impa- 
tiently. "  I  shouldn't  have  persuaded  those  two  ladies  to  come 
to  the  theatre ;  I  forgot  what  kind  of  thing  we  played  in ;  I 
might  as  well  have  asked  them  to  go  to  a  penny  gaff.  Collier 
is  worse  than  ever  to-night." 

"  And  you  better,  Leo,"  said  Nina,  who  had  always  comfort- 
ing words  for  him.  "  Did  you  not  hear  how  enthusiastic  the 
audience  were  ?  And  if  this  is  the  young  lady  you  told  me  of 
— who  was  so  friendly  in  Scotland  that  she  did  not  fear  ridicule 
for  herself  in  order  to  save  you  from  the  possibility  of  ridicule 
— surely  she  will  be  so  well-wishing  to  you  that  she  will  un- 
derstand you  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  foolishness  on  the 
stage." 

"  If  you  are  thinking  of  that  salmon-fishing  incident,"  he  said, 
rather  hastily,  "  of  course  you  mustn't  imagine  there  was  any 
fear  of  her  encountering  any  ridicule.  Oh,  certainly  not.  It 
was  no  new  thing  for  her  to  get  wet  when  she  was  out  fishing — " 

"  At  all  events,  it  was  a  friendly  act  to  you,"  said  Nina,  on 
whom  that  occurrence  seemed  to  have  made  some  impression. 
"  And  if  she  is  so  generous,  so  benevolent  towards  you,  do  you 
think  slic  will  not  see  you  are  not  rcsponsil)lc  for  the  comic 
lousiness  ?" 


PRINCE    FORTUNATU8.  251 

It  was  at  the  end  of  the  penultimate  act  tliat  an  attendant 
brought  round  Miss  Cunyngham  and  her  mother — the  latter  a 
handsome  and  distinguished-looking  elderly  lady,  with  white 
hair  done  up  a  la  Marie  Antoinette — behind  the  scenes ;  and 
Nina,  hanging  some  way  back,  could  see  them  being  presented 
to  Miss  Burgoyne,  Nina  was  a  little  breathless  and  bewildered. 
She  had  heard  a  good  deal  about  the  fisher-maiden  in  the  far 
North,  of  her  hardy  out-of-door  life,  and  her  rough  and  service- 
able costume  ;  and  perhaps  she  had  formed  some  mental  picture 
of  her — very  different  from  the  actual  appearance  of  this  tall 
young  Englishwoman,  whose  clear,  calm  eyes,  strongly  marked 
eyebrows,  and  proud,  refined  features  were  so  striking.  Here 
was  no  simple  maiden  in  a  suit  of  serge,  but  a  young  woman 
of  commanding  presence,  whose  long  cloak  of  tan-colored  velvet, 
with  its  hanging  sleeves  showing  a  flash  of  crimson,  seemed  to 
Nina  to  have  a  sort  of  royal  magnificence  about  it.  And  yet  her 
manner  appeared  to  be  very  simple  and  gentle ;  she  smiled  as 
she  talked  to  Miss  Burgoyne ;  and  the  last  that  Nina  saw  of  her 
— as  they  all  left  together  in  the  direction  of  the  corridor,  Lionel 
obsequiously  attending  them  —  was  that  the  tall  young  lady 
walked  with  a  most  gracious  carriage.  Nina  made  sure  that 
they  had  all  disappeared  before  she,  too,  went  down  the  steps ; 
then  she  made  her  way  to  her  own  room,  to  get  ready  for  the 
final  act.  Miss  Girond,  of  course,  was  also  here ;  but  Nina  had 
no  word  for  Estelle ;  she  seemed  preoccupied  about  something. 

Never  had  Harry  Thornhill  dressed  so  quickly ;  and  when,  in 
his  gay  costume  of  flowered  silk  and  ruffles,  tied  wig  and  buckled 
shoes,  he  tapped  at  Miss  Burgoyne's  door  and  entered,  he  found 
that  this  young  lady  was  still  in  the  curtained  apartment,  though 
she  had  sent  out  Jane  to  see  that  her  two  visitors  were  being  looked 
after.  Lionel,  too,  helped  himself  to  some  tea ;  and  it  was  with 
a  singular  feeling  of  relief  that  he  discovered,  as  he  presently 
did,  that  both  Lady  Cunyngham  and  her  daughter  were  quite 
charmed  with  the  piece,  so  far  as  they  had  seen  it.  They  ap- 
peared to  put  the  farcicality  altogether  aside,  and  to  have  been 
much  impressed  by  the  character  of  the  music. 

"  What  a  pretty  girl  that  Miss  Ross  is  !"  said  the  younger  of 
the  two  ladies,  incidentally.  "  But  she  is  not  English,  is  she  ?" 
I  thought  I  could  detect  a  trace  of  foreign  accent  here  and  there." 

"  No,  she  is  Italian,"  Lionel  made  answer.     "  Her  name  is 


252  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

really  Rossi — Antoiiia  Rossi — but  ber  intimate  friends  call  ber 
Nina." 

"  AVbat  a  beautiful  voice  sbe  bas !"  Miss  Honnor  continued. 
"  So  fresb  and  pure  and  sweet.  I  tbink  sbe  bas  a  far  more  beau- 
tiful voice  tban — " 

He  quickly  beld  up  bis  band,  and  tbe  bint  was  taken. 

"  And  sbe  puts  sucb  life  into  ber  part — sbe  seems  to  be  really 
ligbt-bearted  and  merry,"  resumed  Miss  Honnor,  wbo  appeared 
to  bave  been  mucb  taken  by  Nina's  manner  on  tbe  stage.  "  Do 
you  know,  Mr.  Moore,  I  could  not  belp  to-nigbt  tbinking  more 
tban  once  of  "  Tbe  Cbaplet "  and  my  sisters  and  tbeir  amateur 
friends.  Tbe  difference  between  an  amateur  performance  and 
a  performance  of  trained  artists  is  so  marvellous ;  it  doesn't 
seem  to  me  to  be  one  of  degree  at  all ;  at  an  amateur  perform- 
ance, however  clever  it  may  be,  I  am  conscious  all  tbe  time  tbat 
tbe  people  are  assuming  sometbing  quite  foreign  to  tbemselves, 
wbereas  on  tbe  stage  tbe  people  seem  to  be  tbe  actual  cbaracters 
tbey  profess  to  be.     I  forget  tbey  are  actors  and  actresses — " 

"  You  must  be  a  good  audience.  Miss  Cunyngbam,"  said  be 
(it  used  to  be  "  Miss  Honnor  "  in  Stratbaivron,  but  tbat  was  some 
time  ago — then  be  was  not  decked  out  and  painted  for  exbibi- 
tion  on  tbe  stage). 

"  Ob,  I  like  to  believe,"  sbe  said.  "  I  don't  wisb  to  criticise. 
I  wholly  and  deligbtfuUy  give  myself  up  to  tbe  illusion.  Mother 
and  I  go  so  seldom  to  tbe  theatre  that  we  are  under  no  tempta- 
tion to  begin  and  ask  bow  this  or  tbat  is  done,  or  to  make  any 
comparisons ;  we  surrender  ourselves  to  the  story,  and  believe 
the  people  to  be  real  people  all  we  can.  As  for  mother,  if  it 
weren't  a  dreadful  secret — " 

But  here  the  curtains  were  thrown  wide,  and  out  came  Miss 
Burgoyne,  obviously  conscious  of  ber  magnificent  costume,  pro- 
fuse in  ber  apologies  for  not  appearing  sooner.  Sometbing  bad 
gone  wrong,  and  tbe  mishap  bad  kept  her  late ;  indeed,  sbe  had 
just  time  to  go  through  the  formality  of  taking  a  cup  of  tea 
with  ber  guests  when  she  was  called  and  bad  to  get  ready 
to  go. 

"  However,  I  need  not  say  good-bye  just  yet,"  sbe  said  to 
them,  as  she  tucked  up  ber  voluminous  train.  "  Wouldn't  you 
like  to  look  on  for  a  little  while  from  the  wings?  You  could 
have  the  prompter's  chair.  Lady  Cunyngbam,  so  that  you  could 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  258 

see  the  audience  or  tlie  stage,  just  as  you  chose,  if  Miss  Cun- 
yngham  wouldn't  mind  standing  about  among  the  gasmen." 

"  If  you  are  sure  we  shall  not  be  in  the  way,"  said  the  elder 
lady,  who  had,  perhaps,  a  little  more  curiosity  than  her  daughter. 

"  Oh,  Mr.  Moore  will  show  you,"  said  Miss  Burgoyne,  making 
no  scruple  about  preceding  her  visitors  along  the  corridor  and 
up  the  steps,  for  she  had  not  too  much  time. 

The  prompter's  office,  now  that  this  piece  had  been  running- 
over  four  hundred  nights,  was  practically  a  sinecure,  so  tliat 
there  was  no  trouble  about  getting  Lady  Cunyugham  installed 
in  the  little  corner,  whence,  through  a  small  aperture,  she  could 
regard  the  dusky-hued  audience  or  turn  her  attention  to  the  stage 
just  as  she  pleased.  Miss  Honnor  stood  close  by  her,  when  she 
was  allowed — keeping  out  of  sight  of  the  opposite  boxes  as  much 
as  she  could,  though  she  observed  that  the  workmen  about  lier 
did  not  care  much  whether  they  were  visible  or  not,  and  that 
they  talked  or  called  to  one  another  with  a  fine  indifference  tow- 
ards what  was  going  forward  on  the  stage.  At  present  a  minuet 
was  being  danced,  and  very  pretty  it  was ;  she  could  not  help 
noticing  how  cleverly  Miss  Burgoyne  managed  her  train.  As 
for  her  mother,  the  old  lady  seemed  intensely  interested  and 
yet  conscious  all  the  time  that  she  herself,  in  this  strange  posi- 
tion, was  an  interloper ;  again  and  again  she  rose  and  offered  to 
resign  her  place  to  the  rather  shabby-looking  elderly  man  who 
was  the  rightful  occupant ;  but  he  just  as  often  begged  her  to 
remain — he  seemed  mostly  interested  in  the  management  of  the 
gas-handles  just  over  his  head. 

And  now  came  in  the  comic  interlude  which  Lionel  had  feared 
most  of  all — the  squire's  faithful  henchman  going  through  all  the 
phases  of  getting  drunk  in  double-quick  stage-time ;  and,  while 
those  stupidities  were  going  forward,  Lionel  and  Miss  Burgoyne 
were  supposed  to  retire  up  the  stage  somewhat  and  look  on. 
Well,  they  took  up  their  positions  —  Grace  Mainwaring  being 
seated. 

"  Your  giraffe  is  rather  handsome,"  she  said,  behind  her  fan. 

"  I  believe  she  is  considered  to  be  one  of  the  best-looking 
women  in  England,"  said  he,  somewhat  stiffly. 

"  Oh,  really  !  Well,  of  course,  tastes  differ,"  Miss  Grace  Main- 
waring  said.  "  I  don't  think  a  woman  should  have  blacking- 
brushes  instead  of  eyebrows.     But  it's  a  matter  of  taste." 


354  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  Yes,"  said  be,  "  and  comic  opera  is  the  sort  of  place  where 
one's  taste  becomes  so  refined.  Wbat  do  you  tbink  of  this  gag 
now  ?  Is  tbis  wbat  the  public  like — wben  tbey  come  to  bear 
music  ?" 

*'  You're  very  fastidious — you  want  everything  to  be  super- 
fine— but  you  may  depend  on  it  that  it  keeps  the  piece  going 
with  the  pit  and  gallery." 

His  answer  to  that  was  one  of  this  young  lady's  strangest  ex- 
periences of  the  stage  :  Lionel  Moore  bad  suddenly  left  her,  and, 
indeed,  quitted  tbis  scene,  in  which  be  was  supposed  to  be  a 
chief  figure.  He  walked  down  the  wings  until  be  found  him- 
self close  to  Miss  Honnor  Cunyngbam. 

"  Miss  Cunyngbam,"  he  said. 

She  turned — her  eyes  somewhat  bewildered  by  the  glare  of 
light  on  the  stage. 

"  Come  back,  please,"  be  said.  "  I  don't  want  you  to  see  tbis 
scene — it  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  operetta — and  it  is  dull 
and  stupid  and  tedious  beyond  description." 

She  followed  him  two  or  three  steps,  wondering. 

"  You  say  you  like  the  music,"  he  continued,  here  in  the 
twilight  of  the  wings,  "  and  the  little  story  is  really  rather  pretty 
and  idyllic ;  but  they  tvill  go  and  introduce  a  lot  of  music-hall 
stuff  to  please  the  groundlings.  I  should  prefer  you  not  to  see 
it.  Won't  you  rather  wait  a  little,  and  talk  about  something? — 
it  isn't  often  you  and  I  meet.  Did  you  get  many  salmon  after 
I  left  Stratbaivron  ?" 

"  Ob,  no,"  said  she,  still  rather  surprised.  "  Towards  the  end 
of  the  season  the  red  fish  are  really  not  worth  landing." 

"  It  seems  a  long  time  since  then,"  he  said.  "  I  find  myself 
sitting  up  at  night  and  thinking  over  all  those  experiences — 
making  pictures  of  them — and  the  hours  go  by  in  a  most  aston- 
ishing fashion.  Here  in  London,  among  the  November  fogs,  it 
seems  so  strange  to  tbink  of  those  splendid  days  and  the  long, 
clear  twilights.  I  suppose  it  is  all  so  well  known  to  you,  you  do 
not  trouble  to  recall  it ;  but  I  do — it  is  like  a  dream — only  that 
I  see  everything  so  distinctly — I  seem  almost  to  be  able  to  touch 
each  leaf  of  the  bushes  in  the  little  dell  where  we  used  to  have 
luncheon;  do  you  remember?" 

"  Above  the  Geinig  Pool  ? — oh,  yes  !"  she  said,  smiling. 

"  And  the  Junr-tion  Pool,"  he  continued,  with  a  curious  eager- 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  255 

ness,  as  if  he  were  claiming  licr  sympathy,  her  interest,  on  ac- 
count of  that  old  companionship — "  I  can  make  the  clearest  vis- 
ion of  it  as  I  sit  up  all  by  myself  at  night — you  remember  the 
little  bush  on  the  opposite  side  that  you  used  sometimes  to  catch 
your  fly  on,  and  the  shelf  of  shingle  going  suddenly  down  into 
the  brown  water — I  always  thought  that  was  a  dangerous  place. 
And  how  well  you  used  to  tish  the  Rock  Pool !  Old  Robert 
used  to  be  so  proud  of  you  !  Once,  at  the  tail  of  the  Rock 
Pool,  you  wound  up,  and  said  to  him,  '  Well,  I  can't  do  any 
better  than  that,  Robert ;'  and  then  he  said, '  No  man  ever  fished 
that  pool  better — oh,  I  beg  your  pardon,  Miss  Honnor ;  no  one  at 
all  ever  fished  that  pool  better.'  I  suppose  Strathaivron  is  nothing 
to  you — you  must  be  so  familiar  with  it — but  to  me  it  is  a  sort 
of  wonderland,  to  dream  of  when  I  am  all  by  myself  at  night^ — " 

Alas  !  it  was  at  this  very  moment  that  Nina  came  up  from  her 
room ;  Clara,  the  innkeeper's  daughter,  had  to  go  on  immedi- 
ately after  the  ball-room  scene  w^as  over.  And  Nina,  as  she 
came  by,  caught  sight  of  these  two,  and  for  a  moment  she  stood 
still,  her  eyes  staring.  The  two  figures  were  in  a  sort  of  twi- 
light— a  twilight  as  compared  with  the  glare  of  the  stage  beyond 
them,  but  there  were  lights  here  quite  sufficient  to  illumine 
their  features ;  it  was  no  imagination  on  Nina's  part — she  saw 
with  a  startling  clearness  that  Lionel  was  regarding  this  tall, 
English-looking  girl  with  a  look  she  had  never  seen  him  direct 
towards  any  woman  before  —  a  timid,  wistful,  half-beseeching 
look  that  needed  no  words  to  explain  its  meaning.  For  a  sec-" 
ond  Nina  stood  there,  paralyzed  —  not  daring  to  breathe  —  not 
able  to  move.  Yet  was  it  altogether  a  revelation  to  her,  or  only 
a  sudden  and  overwhelming  confirmation  of  certain  half-friofht- 
ened  misgivings  which  had  visited  her  from  time  to  time,  and 
which  she  had  striven  hard  to  banish  ?  The  next  moment  Nina 
had  passed  on  silently,  like  a  ghost,  and  had  disappeared  in  the 
dusk  behind  some  scenery. 

"  When  shall  you  be  back  in  Strathaivron,  Miss  Honnor  ?"  he 
asked. 

"  In  the  spring,  I  suppose,  for  the  salmon-fishing,"  she  made 
answer. 

"  You  will  be  up  there  in  the  clear  April  days,  by  the  side  of 
that  beautiful  river,  and  I  shall  be  playing  the  mountebank  here, 
anions:  the  London  eras  and  fosf." 


256  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

But  at  this  moment  the  orchestra  began  the  slow  music  that 
intimated  the  resumption  of  the  minuet,  and  this  recalled  him 
to  his  senses ;  he  had  hurriedly  to  take  leave  of  her,  and  then 
he  went  and  rejoined  Miss  Burgoyne,  who  merely  said,  "  Well, 
that's  a  pretty  trick !"  as  she  gave  him  her  hand  for  the  dance. 

A  still  stranger  thing,  however,  happened  in  the  next  scene, 
where  the  gay  young  officer,  the  French  prisoner  of  war,  makes 
love  to  the  innkeeper's  daughter.  Estelle  noticed  with  great 
surprise  that  not  only  did  Nina  deliver  the  English  maiden's 
retorts  without  any  of  the  saucy  spirit  that  the  situation  de- 
manded, but  also  that  she  was  quite  confused  about  the  words, 
stammering  and  hesitating,  and  getting  through  them  in  the 
most  perfunctory  manner.  At  last,  when  the  little  Capitaine 
Crepin  says,  "  Bewitching  maid,  say  you  will  fly  with  me  !" 
Clara's  reply  is,  "  You  forget  I  am  to  be  married  to-morrow — 
see,  here  comes  my  betrothed ;"  but  Nina  only  got  as  far  as  "mar- 
ried to-morrow  " — then  she  paused — hesitated — she  put  her  hand 
to  her  head  as  if  everything  had  gone  from  her  brain — and  at 
the  same  moment  Estelle,  with  the  most  admirable  presence  of 
mind,  continued,  "  See,  here  comes  your  betrothed,"  thus  giv- 
ing the  lover  his  cue.  The  dialogue  now  remained  with  Es- 
telle and  this  liusband-elect,  so  that  Nina  had  time  to  recover  ; 
and  in  the  trio  that  closes  the  scene  she  sang  her  part  well 
enough.  Directly  they  had  left  the  stage,  Estelle  ran  to  her 
friend. 

"  Nina,  what  was  the  matter  ?"  she  exclaimed. 

"  My  head — "  said  Nina,  pressing  her  hand  against  her  fore- 
head and  talking  rather  faintly — "  I  do  not  know — my  head 
is  giddy,  Estelle — oli,  I  wish  it  was  all  over  ! — I  wish  I  was 
home  !" 

"  You  have  very  little  more  to  do  now,  Nina !"  Estelle  said 
quickly  to  her,  in  French.  "  Come,  you  must  have  courage,  Nina 
— I  will  run  and  get  you  my  smelling-salts,  and  it  will  pass 
away — oh,  you  must  make  an  effort,  Nina — would  you  let  Miss 
Burgoyne  see  you  break  down — no,  no,  indeed  !  You  will  be 
all  right,  Nina,  I  assure  you — and  I  will  tell  tlie  prompter  to  be 
on  the  watch  for  you — oh,  I  wouldn't  give  way — before  Miss 
Burgoyne — if  I  were  you,  no,  not  for  a  hundred  pounds  !" 

Therewith  the  kind-liearted  little  French  officer  sped  away  to 
her  own  room,  and  1)r<)nglit  back  tlie  Rmclling-salts  and  was  most 


PRIN'CE    FOKTUNATUS,  v>57 

eagerly  solicitous  that  Nina  should  conquer  this  passing  attack 
of  hysteria,  as  she  deemed  it.  And,  indeed,  Nina  managed  to 
get  through  the  rest  of  her  part  without  any  serious  breakdown, 
to  Estelle's  exceeding  joy. 

As  they  went  home  together  in  the  four-wheeled  cab,  Nina 
did  not  utter  a  word.  Once  or  twice  Estelle  fancied  she  heard 
a  slight  sob ;  but  she  merely  said  to  herself, 

"  Ah,  it  has  come  back,  that  trembling  of  the  nerves  ?  But  I 
will  make  her  take  some  wine  at  supper,  and  she  will  go  to  bed 
and  sleep  well ;  to-morrow  she  will  have  forgotten  all  about  it." 

And  Estelle  was  most  kind  and  considerate  when  they  got 
down  to  Sloane  Street.  She  helped  Nma  off  with  her  things ; 
she  stirred  up  the  fire ;  she  put  a  bottle  of  white  wine  on  the 
table,  where  supper  was  already  laid ;  she  drew  in  Nina's  chair 
for  her.  Then  Mrs.  Grey  came  up,  to  see  that  her  children,  as 
she  called  them,  were  all  right ;  and  she  was  easily  induced  to 
stay  for  a  little  while,  for  a  retired  actress  is  always  eager  to 
hear  news  of  the  theatre ;  so  she  and  Miss  Girond  fell  to  talk- 
ing between  themselves.  Nina  sat  silent ;  her  eyes  seemed  heavy 
and  tired ;  she  only  pretended  to  touch  the  food  and  wine  be- 
fore her. 

"  Very  well,  then,  Nina,"  her  friend  said,  when  Mrs.  Grey  had 
gone, "  if  you  will  have  nothing  to  eat  or  to  drink,  you  must  go 
to  bed  and  see  what  a  sound  night's  rest  will  do  for  you.  I  am 
going  to  sit  up  a  little  while  to  read,  but  I  shall  not  disturb 
you." 

"Good-night,  then,  Estelle,"  said  Nina,  rather  languidly  ;  "you 
have  been  so  kind  to  me !" 

They  kissed  each  other ;  then  Nina  opened  the  folding-doors, 
and  disappeared  into  her  own  room,  while  Estelle  took  up  her 
book.  It  was  "  Les  Vacances  do  Camille  "  she  had  got  hold  of  ; 
but  she  did  not  turn  the  pages  quickly  ;  there  was  something 
else  in  her  mind.  She  was  thinking  of  Nina.  She  was  troubled 
about  her,  in  a  vague  kind  of  way.  She  had  never  seen  Nina 
look  like  that  before,  and  she  was  puzzled  and  a  little  con- 
cerned. 

Suddenly,  in  this  hushed  stillness,  she  heard,  or  fancied  she 
heard,  a  slight  sound  that  startled  her ;  it  came  from  the  adjoin- 
ing room.  Stealthily  she  arose  and  approached  the  door;  she 
put  her  ear  close  and  listened ;  yes,  she  had  not  been  mistaken 


258  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

— Nina  was  sobbing  bitterly.  Estelle  did  not  hesitate  a  mo- 
ment ;  she  boldly  opened  the  door  and  went  in ;  and  the  first 
thing  she  beheld  was  Nina,  just  as  she  had  left  the  other  room, 
now  lying  prone  on  the  bed,  her  face  buried  in  the  pillow,  while 
ih.  vain  she  tried  to  control  the  violence  of  her  grief. 

"  Nina !"  she  cried,  in  alarm. 

Nina  sprang  up  —  she  thrust  out  both  trembling  hands,  as 
if  wildly  seeking  for  help,  and  Estelle  was  not  slow  to  seize 
them. 

"  Nina,  what  is  it  ?"  she  exclaimed,  frightened  by  the  haggard 
face  and  streaming  eyes. 

"  Estelle ! — Estelle !"  said  Nina,  in  a  low  voice  that  simply 
tore  the  heart  of  this  faithful  friend  of  hers.  "  It  is  nothing ! 
It  is  only  that  my  life  is  broken — my  life  is  broken — and  I  have 
no  mother — Poverina  ! — she  would  have  said  to  me — " 

Her  sobs  choked  her  speech  ;  she  withdrew  her  trembling 
hands ;  she  threw  herself  again  on  the  bed,  face  downward,  and 
burst  into  a  wild  fit  of  weeping,  Estelle  knew  not  what  to  do ; 
she  was  terrified. 

"  Nina,  what  has  happened  ?"  she  cried  again. 

"  It  is  nothing  ! — it  is  nothing  ! — it  is  nothing  !"  she  said,  be- 
tween her  passionate  sobs.  "  I  have  made  a  mistake  ;  I  am 
punished  —  O  God,  can  you  not  kill  me!  —  I  do  not  wish  to 
live—" 

"  Nina!"  said  Estelle,  and  the  girl  bent  down  and  put  her  cheek 
close  to  her  friend's,  and  she  tenderly  placed  both  her  hands  on 
the  masses  of  beautiful  blue-black  hair.     "  Nina — tell  me !" 

In  time  the  violent  sobbing  ceased,  or  partially  ceased ;  Nina 
rose,  but  she  clung  to  Estelle's  hand  and  kissed  it  passionately. 

"  You  have  been  so  kind,  so  affectionate  to  me,  Estelle  I  To- 
morrow you  will  know — perhaps.  I  will  leave  you  a  letter.  I 
am  going  away.  If  you  forget  me — well,  that  is  right ;  if  you 
do  not  forget  me,  do  not  think  bad  of — of  poor  Nina !" 

"  I  don't  know  what  you  mean,  Nina,"  said  Estelle,  who  was 
herself  whimpering  by  this  time  ;  "  but  I  won't  let  you  go  away. 
No,  I  will  not.  You  do  not  know  what  you  sa}'.  It  is  madness 
— to-morrow  morning  you  will  reflect — to-morrow  morning  you 
will  tell  me,  and  rely  on  me  as  a  friend." 

"  Yes,  to-morrow  morning  all  will  be  right,  Estelle,"  Nina  said, 
again  kissing  the  hand  that  she  clung  to.     "  Pardon  me  that  I 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  259 

have  kept  you  up — and  disturbed  you.     Go  away  to  your  bed, 
Estelle — to-morrow  morning  all  will  be  right !" 

Very  reluctantly  Estelle  was  at  length  persuaded  to  leave  ; 
and  as  she  left  she  turned  ofE  the  gas  in  the  sitting-room.  A 
few  minutes  thereafter  Nina,  still  dressed  as  she  had  come  home 
from  the  theatre,  entered  the  room,  re-lit  the  gas,  and  noiselessly 
proceeded  to  clear  a  portion  of  the  table,  on  which  she  placed 
writing  materials.  Then  she  went  into  her  bedroom  and  fetched 
a  little  drawer  in  which  she  kept  her  valuables ;  and  the  first 
thing  she  did  was  to  take  out  an  old-fashioned  gold  ring  she 
had  brought  with  her  from  Naples.  She  put  the  ring  in  an  en- 
velope, and  (while  her  eyelids  were  still  heavy  with  tears,  and 
her  cheeks  wan  and  worn)  she  wrote  outside — '■'■For  Estelle.'''' 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

AN    AWAKENING. 

London  is  a  dreary -looking  city  on  a  Sunday  morning,  espe- 
cially on  a  Sunday  morning  in  November ;  people  seem  to  know 
how  tedious  the  hours  are  going  to  be,  and  lie  in  bed  as  long  as 
they  decently  can  ;  the  teeming  and  swarming  capital  of  the 
world  looks  as  if  it  had  suddenly  grown  lifeless.  When  Lionel 
got  up,  there  was  a  sort  of  yellow  darkness  in  the  air ;  hardly  a 
single  human  being  was  visible  in  the  Green  Park  over  the  way  ; 
a  solitary  saunterer,  hands  deep  in  the  pockets  of  his  overcoat, 
who  wandered  idly  along  the  neglected  pavement,  had  the  ap- 
pearance of  having  been  out  all  night,  and  of  not  knowing  what 
to  do  with  himself,  now  that  what  passed  for  daylight  had  come. 
All  of  a  sudden  there  flashed  into  the  braiu  of  this  young  man 
standing  by  the  French  window  a  yearning  to  get  away  from 
this  dark  and  dismal  town — there  came  before  him  a  vision  of 
clear  air,  of  wind-swept  waves,  with  an  after-church  promenade 
of  fashionable  folk  in  which  he  might  recognize  the  welcome 
face  of  many  a  friend.  He  looked  at  his  watch ;  there  was 
yet  time ;  he  would  hurry  through  his  breakfast  and  catch  the 
10.45  to  Brighton. 

But  was  there  nothing  else  prompting  this  unpremeditated 
resolve  to  get  awav  down  to  Victoria  station  ?     Not  some  secret 


360  PKINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

hope  tliat  be  might  perchance  descry  Lady  Cunyngham  and  her 
daughter  among  the  crowd  swarming  on  to  the  long  platform  ? 
They  had  not  definitely  told  him  at  the  theatre  that  they  were 
returning  the  next  morning;  but  was  it  not  just  possible — or, 
rather,  extremely  probable  ?  And  surely  he  might  presume  on 
their  mutual  acquaintance  so  far  as  to  get  into  the  same  railway- 
carriage  and  have  some  casual  chatting  with  them  on  the  way 
down?  He  had  been  as  attentive  as  possible  to  them  on  the 
previous  evening ;  and  they  had  seemed  pleased.  And  he  had 
tried  to  arouse  in  Miss  Honnor's  mind  some  recollection  of  the 
closer  relationship  which  had  existed  between  her  and  him  in 
the  solitudes  of  far  Strathaivron. 

When  he  did  arrive  at  Victoria  station  he  found  the  people 
pouring  in  in  shoals ;  for  now  was  the  very  height  of  the  Brigh- 
ton season  ;  besides  which  there  were  plenty  of  Londoners  glad 
to  escape,  if  only  for  a  day,  from  the  perpetual  fog  and  gloom. 
And  yet,  curiously  enough,  although  the  carriages  were  being 
rapidly  filled,  he  took  no  trouble  about  securing  a  seat.  After 
he  had  gone  down  the  whole  length  of  the  train,  he  turned,  and 
kept  watching  the  new  arrivals  as  they  came  through  the  dis- 
tant gate.  The  time  for  departure  was  imminent ;  but  he  did 
not  seem  anxious  about  getting  to  Brighton.  And  at  last  his 
patience,  or  his  obstinacy,  was  rewarded ;  he  saw  two  figures — 
away  along  there  —  that  he  instantly  recognized;  even  at  a 
greater  distance  he  could  have  told  that  one  of  these  was  Hon- 
nor  Cunyngham,  for  who  else  in  all  England  walked  like  that? 
The  two  ladies  were  unattended  by  either  man  or  maid ;  and  as 
they  came  along  they  seemed  rather  concerned  at  the  crowded 
condition  of  the  train.  Lionel  walked  quickly  forward  to  meet 
them.  There  was  no  time  for  the  expression  of  surprise  on  their 
part — only  for  the  briefest  greeting. 

"  I  must  try  to  get  you  scats,"  said  he,  "  but  the  train  ap- 
pears to  be  very  full,  and  the  guards  are  at  their  wits'  end.  I 
say  !"  he  called  to  a  porter.  "  Look  here  ;  this  train  is  crammed, 
and  the  people  are  pouring  in  yet;  what  are  they  going  to  do?" 

"  There's  a  relief  train,  sir,"  said  the  porter,  indicating  a  long 
row  of  empty  carriages  just  across  the  platform. 

"  You  arc  sure  those  are  going  ?" 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  Then  we  can  get  in  now  ?" 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  261 

The  man  looked  doubtful  ;  but  Lionel  soon  settled  that  mat- 
ter by  taking  the  two  ladies  along  to  a  Pullman  car,  where  the 
conductor  at  once  allowed  them  to  pass.  It  is  true  that  as  soon 
as  the  public  outside  perceived  that  these  empty  carriages  were 
also  going,  they  took  possession  without  more  ado ;  but  in  the 
meantime  Lionel  and  his  two  companions  had  had  their  choice  of 
places,  so  that  they  were  seated  together  when  the  train  started, 

"  It  was  most  fortunate  we  met  you,"  Lady  Cunyngham  said, 
bending  very  friendly  eyes  on  the  young  man.  "  I  do  so  hate  a 
crowded  train ;  it  happens  so  seldom  in  travelling  in  England 
that  one  is  not  used  to  it.  Are  you  going  down  to  Brighton 
for  any  time,  Mr.  Moore  ?" 

"  Mother,"  said  Ilonnor  Cunyngham,  almost  reproachfully, 
"  you  forget  what  Mr.  Moore's  engagements  are." 

"  Yes,"  said  he,  with  a  smile,  "  it  is  rather  a  cruel  question. 
My  glimpses  of  the  sea  and  sky  are  few  and  far  between.  The 
heavens  that  I  usually  find  over  my  head  are  made  of  canvas ; 
and  the  country  scenes  I  wander  through  are  run  on  wheels." 

"  But  don't  you  think,"  said  Miss  Honnor  to  him  (and  it 
seemed  so  cheerful  to  be  away  from  the  London  gloom  and  out 
here  in  the  clearer  air  ;  to  find  himself  sitting  so  near  this  young 
lady,  able  to  regard  her  dress,  listening  to  her  voice,  sometimes 
venturing  to  meet  the  straightforward  glance  of  her  calm  eyes — 
all  this  was  a  wondrous  and  marvellous  thing) — "  don't  you 
think  you  enjoy  getting  away  from  tow^n  all  the  more  'keenly  ? 
I  shall  never  forget  you  in  Strathaivron  ;  yoa  were  never  bored 
like  some  of  the  other  gentlemen." 

"  Each  and  every  day  was  one  to  be  marked  by  a  white  stone," 
he  said,  with  an  earnestness  hardly  befitting  rail  way -carriage 
conversation. 

"  The  wet  ones,  too  ?"  she  asked,  pleasantly. 

"  Wet  or  dry,  what  was  the  difference  ?"  he  made  bold  to  say. 
"  What  did  I  care  about  the  rain  if  I  could  go  down  to  the  Aiv- 
ron  or  away  up  to  the  Geinig  with  you  and  old  Robert  ?" 

"  You  certainly  were  very  brave  about  it,"  she  said,  in  the 
most  friendly  way ;  "  you  never  once  grumbled  when  the  sand- 
wiches got  damp — not  once." 

And  so  the  three  of  them  kept  gayly  and  carelessly  talking 
and  chatting  together,  as  the  long  train  thundered  away  to  the 
south  ;  while  ever  and  anon  thev  could  turn  their  eves  to  that 


262  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

changing  phantasmflgoria  of  the  outer  world  that  went  whirling 
by  the  windows.  It  was  rather  a  wild-looking  day,  sometimes 
brightening  with  a  wan  glare  of  sunlight,  but  more  often  dark- 
ening until  the  country  looked  like  a  French  landscape,  in  its 
sombre  tones  of  gray  and  black  and  green.  Yet,  nevertheless, 
there  was  a  sort  of  picturesqueness  in  the  brooding  sky,  the 
russet  woods,  the  purple  hedges,  and  the  new-ploughed  furrows  ; 
while  now  and  again  a  distant  mansion,  set  on  a  height,  shone 
a  fair  yellow  above  its  terraced  lawn.  Scattered  rooks  swept 
down  the  wind  and  settled  in  a  field.  The  moorhens  had  for- 
saken the  rulfled  water  of  the  ponds  and  sought  shelter  among 
the  withered  sedge.  Puffs  of  white  steam  from  the  engine  flew 
across  and  were  lost  in  the  leafless  trees.  Embankments  sud- 
denly showed  themselves  high  in  the  air,  and  as  suddenly  dipped 
again  ;  then  there  were  long  stretches  of  coppice,  with  red 
bracken,  and  a  sprinkling  of  gold  on  the  oaks.  To  Lionel  the 
time  went  by  all  too  quickly  ;  befoi'c  he  had  said  the  half  of 
what  he  wanted  to  say,  behold  !  here  they  were  at  Preston  Park. 

"  You  are  at  least  remaining  over  until  to-morrow  ?"  Lady 
Cunyngham  asked  him. 

"  AVell,  no,"  said  he,  "  I  did  not  think  of  coming  down  until 
this  morning,  and  so  I  had  made  no  arrangements.  I  should 
think  it  hardly  likely  there  would  be  a  vacant  bedroom  at  the 
Orleans  Club  at  this  time  of  year — no,  in  any  case,  I  must  get 
back  by  the  8.40  to-night." 

"And  in  the  meantime,"  she"^ asked  again,  "have  you  any 
engagement  ?" 

"  None.  I  dare  say  I  shall  have  a  stroll  along  the  sea-front, 
and  then  drop  in  for  lunch  at  the  Orleans." 

"  You  might  as  well  come  down  now  and  lunch  with  us,"  said 
she,  simply. 

Lionel's  face  brightened  up  amazingly  ;  he  had  been  looking 
forward  to  saying  good-bye  at  the  station  with  anything  but  joy. 

"  I  should  be  delighted — if  I  am  not  in  the  way,"  was  his 
prompt  answer. 

"  Oh,  Ilonnor  and  I  are  entirely  by  ourselves  at  present,"  said 
this  elderly  lady  with  the  silver-white  hair.  "  We  are  expecting 
Lady  Adela  and  her  sisters  this  week,  however;  and  perhaps 
my  son  will  come  down  later  on." 

"  Are  thov  back  from  Scotland  ?" 


PKINCE    FORTUNATUS.  263 

"  They  arrive  tomorrow,  I  believe." 

"  And  Lady  Adela's  novel  V 

"  Ob,  I  don't  know  anything  about  that,"  said  she,  with  a 
good-humored  smile.  "  Surely  she  can't  have  written  another 
novel  already  !" 

When  they  got  into  the  station,  a  footman  was  awaiting  them, 
but  they  had  no  bags  or  baggage  of  any  description  ;  they  walked 
a  little  way  along  the  platform  and  entered  the  carriage ;  pres- 
ently they  were  driving  away  down  to  the  sea-front.  What 
Honnor  Cunyngham  thought  of  the  arrangement,  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  say,  but  the  invitation  was  none  of  her  giving ;  no  doubt 
it  was  merely  a  little  compliment  in  acknowledgment  of  Mr. 
Moore's  kindness  of  the  preceding  night.  However,  when  the 
barouche  pulled  up  in  front  of  a  house  in  Adelaide  Crescent, 
Mr.  Moore  had  his  own  proposal  to  make. 

"  It  seems  so  pleasant  down  there,"  said  he,  looking  towards 
the  wide  stretches  of  greensward  and  the  promenade  along  the 
sea-wall,  where  the  people,  just  come  out  of  church,  were  stroll- 
ing to  and  fro  ;  "  every  one  appears  to  be  out — don't  you  think 
we  should  have  a  little  walk  before  going  in  ?" 

Honnor  Cunyngham  said  nothing ;  it  was  her  mother  who  at 
once  and  good-naturedly  assented  ;  and  when  they  had  descended 
from  the  carriage  they  forthwith  made  their  way  down  to  mix 
in  this  idle  throng.  It  was  quite  a  bright  and  pleasant  morning 
here — a  stiflE  southwesterly  breeze  blowing — a  considerably  heavy 
sea  thundering  in  and  springing  with  jets  of  white  spray  into 
the  air — the  sunlight  shining  along  the  yellow  houses  of  Bruns- 
wick Terrace,  where  there  were  cheerful  bits  of  green  here  and 
there  in  the  balconies.  Then  the  crowd  was  rather  more  gayly 
dressed  than  an  English  crowd  usually  is  ;  for  women  allow  them- 
selves a  little  more  latitude  in  the  way  of  color  during  the 
Brighton  season,  and  on  such  a  morning  there  was  ample  ex- 
cuse for  a  display  of  sunshades.  And  was  it  merely  a  wish  to 
breathe  the  fresh-blowing  wind  and  to  listen  to  the  hissing  with- 
drawal and  recurrent  roar  of  the  waA-es  that  had  induced  Lionel 
to  ask  his  two  companions  to  join  in  this  slow  march  up  and 
down  ?  Young  men  have  their  little  vanities  and  weaknesses, 
like  other  folk.  Rumor  had  on  more  than  one  occasion  coupled 
his  name  with  that  of  some  fair  damsel ;  what  if  he  were  to  say 
now,  "  Well,  if  you  will  talk,  here  is  one  worth  talking:  about." 


264  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

He  was  conscious  on  this  sliining  morning  that  Miss  Cunyng- 
ham — the  more  beautiful  daughter  of  a  beautiful  mother — was 
looking  superb ;  he  remembered  what  Miss  Georgie  had  said 
about  Honnor's  proud  and  graceful  carriage.  He  knew  a  good 
many  of  the  people  in  this  slow-moving  assemblage ;  and  he 
was  not  sorry  they  should  see  him  talking  to  this  tall  and  hand- 
some young  Englishwoman — who  also  appeared  to  have  a  nu- 
merous acquaintanceship. 

"  Why,  you  seem  to  know  everybody,  Mr.  Moore  ?"  she  said 
to  him,  with  a  smile. 

"  You  would  think  all  London  was  here  this  morning — it's 
really  astonishing  !"  he  made  answer. 

Occasionally  they  stopped  to  have  a  chat  with  more  particu- 
lar friends ;  and  then  Lionel  would  remain  a  little  bit  aside  ; 
though  once  or  twice  Lady  Cunyngham  chose  to  introduce  him, 
and  that  pleased  him,  he  hardly  knew  why.  But  at  last  she 
said, 

"  Well,  I  think  we  must  be  getting  home.  Properly  speaking 
we  Lave  no  right  to  be  in  the  prayer-book  brigade  at  all,  for  we 
have  not  been  to  church  this  morning." 

Not  unlikely  the  squire  of  these  two  ladies  was  rather  loath 
to  leave  this  gay  assemblage  ;  but  he  was  speedily  consoled,  for, 
to  his  inexpressible  joy,  he  found,  when  they  got  in-doors,  that 
there  was  no  one  else  coming  to  lunch — these  three  were  to  be 
quite  by  themselves.  And  of  what  did  they  not  talk  during 
this  careless,  protracted,  idling  meal  ?  Curiously  enough,  it  was 
Nina,  not  Miss  Burgoyne,  who  appeared  to  have  chiefly  impressed 
the  two  visitors  on  the  preceding  evening ;  and  when  Lady 
Cunyngham  discovered  that  she  was  an  old  companion  and  fel- 
low-student of  Lionel's,  she  was  much  interested,  and  would 
have  him  tell  her  all  about  his  experiences  in  Naples.  And 
again  Miss  Honnor  recurred  to  the  difference  between  amateur 
and  professional  acting,  tliat  seemed  to  have  struck  lier  so  for- 
cibly the  previous  night. 

"  Really,  Mr.  Moore,"  said  she,  "  you  must  have  an  astonish- 
ing amount  of  good-nature  and  tolerance.  If  I  had  complete 
command  of  any  art,  and  saw  a  band  of  amateurs  attempting 
something  in  it  and  not  even  conscious  of  their  own  amateur- 
ishness, I  don't  know  whether  I  should  be  more  inclined  to 
I.'iiigh  or  to  1;c  angry.      T  used  to  bo  amused,  up  there  in  Strath- 


PRINCE    FOHTUNATUS.  365 

aivron,  with  the  confidence  Georgie  Lcstrange  showed  in  sing- 
ing a  duct  with  you — " 

"  Ah,  but  Miss  Lestrange  sings  very  well,"  said  he.  "  And, 
you  know,  if  Lady  Adela  and  her  sisters  perform  a  piece  like 
"The  Chaplet" — well,  that  is  a  Watteau-like  sort  of  thing — 
Sevres  china — force  or  passion  of  any  kind  isn't  wanted — it's 
all  artificial,  and  confessedly  so.  And  then,  when  the  profes- 
sional actor  finds  himself  acting  with  amateurs,  I  dare  say  he 
modifies  himself  a  little — " 

"  Becomes  an  amateur,  in  short,"  she  said. 

"  In  a  measure.  Otherwise  he  would  be  a  regular  bull  in  a 
china  shop.  And  surely,  w^hen  you  get  a  number  of  people  in 
a  remote  place  like  Strathaivron,  the  efforts  of  amateurs  to  amuse 
them  should  be  encouraged  and  approved.  I  thought  it  was 
very  unselfish  of  them — very  kind — though  they  generally  suc- 
ceeded in  sending  Lord  Fareborough  to  bed.  By  the  way.  Miss 
Cunyngham,  did  Lord  Fareborough  ever  get  a  stag  ?" 

For  it  was  observable  that  this  young  man,  whenever  he  got 
the  chance,  was  anxious  to  lead  away  the  conversation  from  the 
theatre  and  all  things  pertaining  thereunto,  and  would  rather 
talk  about  Strathaivron  and  salmon-fishing  and  Miss  Ilonnor's 
plans  with  regard  to  the  coming  year. 

"  Oh,  no,"  she  said,  "  he  never  went  out  but  that  once,  and 
then  he  nearly  killed  himself,  according  to  his  own  account. 
We  never  quite  knew  what  happened ;  there  w'as  some  dark 
mystery  that  Roderick  wouldn't  explain ;  and,  you  know,  Lord 
Fareborough  himself  is  rather  short-tempered.  He  ought  not 
to  have  gone  out — a  man  who  has  imagined  himself  into  that 
hypochondriacal  state.  However,  it  has  given  him  an  excuse 
for  thinking  himself  a  greater  invalid  than  ever ;  and  he  has  got 
it  into  his  head  now  that  we  all  of  us  persuaded  him  to  try  a 
day's  stalking — a  conspiracy,  as  it  were,  to  murder  him.  There 
was  some  accident  at  one  of  the  fords,  I  believe.  He  came 
home  early.  I  never  heard  of  his  having  fired  at  a  stag  at  all." 
And  then  she  added,  with  a  smile,  "  Mr.  Moore,  w  hat  made  you 
send  me  such  a  lot  of  salmon-flies  ?" 

"  Oh,  well,"  he  said,  "  I  thought  you  ought  to  have  a  good 
stock."     How  could  he  tell  her  of  his  vague  hope  that  the  Jock 
Scotts  and  Blue  Doctors  might  serve  for  a  long  time  to  recall 
him  to  her  memory  ? 
12 


266  PRINCE    FOKTUNATUS. 

"  I  suppose  you  liave  got  tlie  stag's  head  by  now  ?"  she 
asked. 

"  Oh,  yes,  indeed ;  and  tremendously  proud  of  it  I  am,"  he 
responded,  eagerly.  "  You  know  I  should  never  have  gone  deer- 
stalking but  for  you.  I  made  sure  I  was  going  to  make  a  fool 
of  myself — " 

"  I  remember  you  were  rather  sensitive,  or  anxious  not  to  miss, 
perhaps,"  she  said,  in  a  very  gentle  way.  "  I  thought  of  it  again 
last  night,  when  I  saw  you  so  completely  master  in  your  own 
sphere — so  much  at  home — with  everything  at  your  command — " 

"  Oh,  yes,  very  much  at  home,"  he  answered  her,  with  just  a 
touch  of  bitterness.  "  Perhaps  it  is  easy  to  be  at  home — in  har- 
lequinade— though  you  may  not  quite  like  it."  And  then  once 
more  he  refused  to  talk  of  the  theatre.  "  I  am  going  to  send 
old  Robert  some  tobacco  at  Christmas,"  said  he. 

"  I  heard  of  what  you  did  already  in  that  way,"  she  said,  smil- 
ing. "  Do  you  know  that  you  may  spoil  a  place  by  your  extrav- 
agance ?  I  should  think  all  the  keepers  and  gillies  in  Strathaiv- 
ron  were  blessing  your  name  at  this  very  moment." 

"  And  you  go  up  in  the  spring,  you  said  ?" 

"  Yes.  That  is  the  real  fishing-time.  My  brother  Hugh  and 
I  have  it  all  to  ourselves  then  ;  Lady  Adela  and  the  rest  of  them 
prefer  London." 

And  then  it  was  almost  in  his  heart  to  cry  out  to  her,  "  May 
not  I,  too,  go  up  there,  if  but  for  a  single  week — for  six  clear- 
shining  days  in  the  springtime  ?"  Ben  More,  Suilven,  Canisp — 
oh,  to  see  them  once  again  ! — and  the  windy  skies,  and  Geinig 
thundering  down  its  rocky  chasm,  and  Aivron  singing  its  morn- 
ing song  along  the  golden  gravel  of  its  shoals !  what  did  he  want 
with  any  theatre  ? — with  the  harlequinade  in  which  he  was  losing 
his  life?  Could  he  not  escape?  Euston  station  was  not  so  far 
away — and  Invershin  ?  It  seemed  to  him  as  though  he  had  al- 
ready shaken  himself  free — that  a  gladder  pulsation  filled  his 
veins — that  he  was  breathing  a  sweeter  air.  The  white  April  days 
shone  all  around  him ;  the  silver  and  purple  clouds  went  flying 
overhead  ;  here  he  was  by  the  deep,  brown  pools  again,  with  the 
gray  rocks  and  the  overhanging  birch-woods  and  the  long  shal- 
lows filling  all  the  world  with  that  soft,  continuous  murmur. 
As  for  his  singing? — oh,  yes,  he  could  sing — he  could  sing,  if 
needs  were, 


PRINCE    FOKTUNATUS.  267 

"0  lang  may  his  lady-lovo 

Look  frae  the  Castle  Doune, 
Ere  she  see  the  Earl  o'  Moray 
Come  sounding  through  the  toun" — 

but  there  is  no  gaslight  here — there  are  no  painted  faces — he 
has  not  to  look  on  at  the  antics  of  a  clown,  with  shame  and  con- 
fusion in  his  heart — 

The  wild  fancy  was  suddenly  snapped  in  twain ;  Lady  Cun- 
yngham  rose ;  the  two  younger  people  did  likewise. 

"  Now,  I  know  you  gentlemen  like  a  cigar  or  cigarette  after 
luncheon,"  she  said  to  Lionel,  "  and  we  are  going  to  leave  you 
quite  by  yourself — you  will  find  us  in  the  drawing-room  when 
you  please." 

Of  course  he  would  not  hear  of  such  a  proposal ;  he  opened 
the  door  for  them,  and  followed  them  up-stairs  ;  what  were  ci- 
gars or  cigarettes  to  him  when  he  had  such  a  chance  of  listening 
to  Honnor  Cunyngham's  low,  modulated  voice,  or  watching  for 
a  smile  in  the  calmly  observant  hazel  eyes  ?  Indeed,  in  the  draw- 
ing-room, as  Miss  Honnor  showed  him  a  large  collection  of  As- 
siout  ware  which  had  been  sent  her  by  an  English  officer  in 
Egypt  (by  what  right  or  title,  Lionel  swiftly  asked  himself,  had 
any  English  officer  made  bold  to  send  Miss  Cunyngham  a  ham- 
perf  ul  of  these  red-clay  idiotcies  ?),  this  solitary  guest  had  again 
and  again  to  remind  himself  that  he  must  not  outstay  his  wel- 
come. And  yet  they  seemed  to  find  a  great  deal  to  talk  about ; 
and  the  elder  of  the  two  ladies  was  exceedingly  kind  to  him ; 
and  there  was  a  singular  fascination  in  his  finding  himself  en- 
tirely enfamille  with  them.  But  alas !  Even  if  he  or  they  had 
chosen  to  forget,  the  early  dusk  of  the  November  afternoon  was 
a  sufficient  warning  ;  the  windows  told  him  he  had  to  go.  And 
go  he  did  at  last.  lie  bade  them  good-bye ;  with  some  friendly 
words  still  dwelling  in  his  ears  he  made  his  way  down  the  dim 
stairs  and  had  the  door  opened  for  him ;  then  he  found  himself 
in  this  now  empty  and  hopeless  town  of  Brighton,  that  seemed 
given  over  to  the  low,  multitudinous  murmur  of  that  wide  waste 
of  waves. 

He  did  not  go  along  to  the  Orleans  Club ;  his  heart  and  brain 
were  too  busy  to  permit  of  his  meeting  chance  acquaintances. 
He  walked  away  towards  Shoreham  till  a  smart  shower  made 
him  turn.     When  he  got  back  to  the  town  the  lamps  were  lit, 


268  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

throwing  long,  golden  reflections  on  the  wet  asphalt,  but  the 
rain  had  ceased  ;  so  he  continued  to  pace  absently  along  through 
this  blue  twilight,  hardly  noticing  the  occasional  dark  figures 
that  passed.  What  was  the  reason,  then,  of  this  vague  unrest — 
this  unknown  longing — this  dissatisfaction  and  almost  despair  ? 
Had  he  not  been  more  fortunate  than  he  could  have  hoped  for  ? 
He  had  met  Miss  Honnor  and  her  mother  in  the  morning,  and 
had  been  with  them  all  the  way  down  ;  they  had  been  most  kind 
to  him ;  he  had  spent  the  best  part  of  the  day  with  them  ;  they 
had  parted  excellent  friends  ;  looking  back,  he  could  not  recall 
a  single  word  he  would  have  liked  unsaid.  Then  a  happy  fancy 
struck  him  :  the  moment  he  got  up  to  town  he  would  go  and 
seek  out  Maurice  Mangan.  There  was  a  wholesome  quality  in 
Mangan's  saturnine  contempt  for  the  non-essential  things  of 
life  ;  Mangan's  clear  penetration,  his  covert  sympathy,  his  scorn 
or  mock-melancholy,  would  help  him  to  get  rid  of  these  vapors. 

When  Lionel  returned  to  town  a  little  after  ten  o'clock  that 
night  he  walked  along  to  Mangan's  rooms  in  Victoria  Street,  and 
found  his  friend  sitting  in  front  of  the  fire  alone. 

"  Glad  you've  looked  in,  Linn." 

"Well,  you  don't  seem  to  be  busy,  old  chap  ;  who  over  saw 
you  before  without  a  book  or  a  pipe  ?" 

"  I've  been  musing,  and  dreaming  dreams,  and  wishing  I  was 
a  poet,"  said  this  tall,  thin,  languid-looking  man,  whose  abnor- 
mally keen  gray  eyes  were  now  grown  a  little  absent.  "It's 
only  a  fancy,  you  know — perhaps  something  could  be  made  of 
it  by  a  fellow  who  could  rhyme — " 

"  But  what  is  it  ?"  Lionel  interposed. 

"  Well,"  said  the  other,  still  idly  staring  into  the  fire  before 
him,  "  I  think  I  would  call  it '  The  Cry  of  the  Violets ' — the  vio- 
lets that  are  sold  in  bunches  at  the  head  of  the  Haymarket  at 
midnight.  Don't  you  fancy  there  might  be  something  in  it — 
if  you  think  of  where  they  come  from — the  woods  and  copses, 
children  playing,  and  all  that — and  of  what  they've  come  to — 
the  gas-glare  and  drunken  laughter  and  jeers.  I  would  make 
them  tell  their  own  story — I  would  make  them  cry  to  Heaven 
for  swift  death  and  oblivion  before  the  last  degradation  of  being 
pinned  on  to  the  flaunting  dress."  And  then  again  he  said : 
"No,  I  don't  suppose  there's  any  thing  in  it;  but  I'll  tell  you 
what  made  iiic  think  of  it.     This  iiioi-ning,  as  we  were  coining 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  2«9 

back  from  Winstead  church — yoit  know  how  extraordinarily  mild 
it  has  been  of  late,  and  the  lane  going  down  to  the  church  is  very 
well  sheltered — I  found  a  couple  of  violets  in  at  the  roots  of  the 
hedge — within  a  few  inches  of  each  other,  indeed — and  I  gave 
them  to  Miss  Francie,  and  she  put  them  in  her  prayer-book  and 
carried  thera  home.  I  thought  the  violets  would  not  object  to 
that,  if  they  only  knew." 

"So  you  went  down  to  Winstead  this  morning?" 

«Yes." 

"  And  how  are  the  old  people  ?" 

"  Oh,  very  well." 

"  And  Francie  ?" 

"Very  busy — and  very  happy,  I  think.  If  she  doesn't  de- 
serve to  be,  who  does  ?"  he  continued,  rousing  himself  somewhat 
from  his  absent  manner.  "  I  suppose,  now,  there  is  no  abso- 
lutely faultless  woman  ;  and  yet  I  sometimes  think  it  would  puz- 
zle the  most  fastidious  critic  of  human  nature  to  point  out  any 
one  particular  in  which  Miss  Francie  could  be  finer  than  she  is ; 
I  think  it  would.  It  is  not  my  business  to  find  fault ;  I  don't 
want  to  find  fault ;  but  I  have  often  thought  over  Miss  Francie 
— her  occupations,  her  theories,  her  personal  disposition,  even 
her  dress — and  I've  wondered  where  the  improvement  was  to  be 
suggested.  You  see,  she  might  be  a  very  good  woman,  and  yet 
have  no  sense  of  humor ;  she  might  be  very  charitable,  and  also 
a  little  vainglorious  about  it ;  she  might  have  very  exalted  ideas 
of  duty,  and  be  a  trifle  hard  on  those  who  did  not  come  up  to 
her  standards ;  but  in  Miss  Francie's  case  these  qualifications 
haven't  to  be  put  in  at  all.  She  always  seems  to  me  to  be  doing 
the  right  thing,  and  just  in  the  right  way — with  a  kind  of  fine 
touch  that  has  no  namby-pambiness  about  it.  Oh,  she  can  be 
firm,  too  ;  she  can  scold  them  well  enough,  those  children — 
when  she  doesn't  laugh  and  pat  them  on  the  shoulder  the  minute 
after." 

"  This  is,  indeed,  something,  as  coming  from  you,  Maurice !" 
Lionel  exclaimed.  "  Has  it  been  left  for  you  to  discover  an  ab- 
solutely perfect  human  being?" 

"  It  isn't  for  you  to  find  fault  with  her,  anyway,"  the  other 
said,  rather  sharply.     "  She's  fond  enough  of  you." 

"  Who  said  I  was  finding  fault  with  her  ? — not  likely  I  am 
going  to  find  fault  with  Francie !"  Lionel  replied,  with  sufficient 


270  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

good-humor.  "  Well,  now  ttat  you  have  discovered  an  abso- 
lutely faultless  creature,  you  might  come  to  the  help  of  another 
who  is  only  too  conscious  that  he  has  plenty  of  faults,  and  who 
is  so  dissatisfied  with  himself  and  his  surroundings  that  he  is 
about  sick  of  life  altogether." 

Notwithstanding  the  light  tone  in  which  he  introduced  the 
subject,  Mangan  looked  up  quickly,  and  regarded  the  younger 
man  with  those  penetrating  gray  eyes. 

"  Where  have  you  been  to-day,  Linn  ?" 

"  Brighton." 

"Among  the  dukes  and  duchesses  again?  Ah,  you  needn't 
be  angry — I  respect  as  much  as  anybody  those  whom  God  has 
placed  over  us — I  haven't  forgotten  my  catechism — I  can  order 
myself  lowly  and  reverently  to  all  my  betters.  But  tell  me  what 
the  matter  is.  You  sick  of  life  ? — I  w  onder  what  the  gay  world 
of  London  would  think  of  that !" 

And  therewithal  Lionel,  in  a  somewhat  rambling  and  incoher- 
ent fashion,  told  his  friend  of  a  good  many  things  that  had  hap- 
pened to  him  of  late — of  his  vague  aspirations  and  dissatisfac- 
tions— of  Miss  Cunyngham's  visit  to  the  theatre,  and  his  disgust 
over  the  music-hall  clowning — of  his  going  down  to  Brighton 
that  day,  and  his  wish  to  stand  on  some  other  footing  with  those 
friends  of  his — winding  up  by  asking,  to  Mangan's  surprise,  how 
long  it  would  take  to  study  for  the  bar  and  get  called,  and  wheth- 
er his  training — the  confidence  acquired  on  the  stage — might 
not  help  in  addressing  a  jury. 

"  So  the  idol  has  got  tired  of  being  worshipped,"  Mangan  said, 
at  last.  "  It  is  an  odd  thing.  I  wonder  how  many  thousands  of 
people  there  are  in  London — not  merely  shop-girls — who  con- 
sider you  the  most  fortunate  person  alive — in  whose  imagina- 
tion you  loom  larger  than  any  saint  or  soldier,  any  priest  or 
statesman,  of  our  own  time.  And  I  wonder  what  they  would 
say  if  they  knew  you  were  thinking  of  voluntarily  abdicating  so 
proud  and  enviable  a  position.  Well,  well ! — and  the  reason  for 
this  sacrifice  ?  Of  course,  you  know  it  is  a  not  uncommon  thing 
for  women  to  give  up  their  carriages  and  lu^xuries  and  fine  liv- 
ing, and  go  into  a  retreat,  where  they  have  to  sweep  out  cells, 
and  even  keep  strict  silence  for  a  week  at  a  time,  which,  I  sup- 
pose, is  a  more  difficult  business.  The  reason  in  their  case  is 
clear  enough  ;  they  are  driven  to  all  that  by  their  spiritual  needs; 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  271 

they  want  to  have  their  souls  washed  clean  by  penance  and  self- 
denial.  But  you,"  he  continued,  in  no  unfriendly  mood,  hut 
with  his  usual  uncompromising  sincerity,  "  whence  comes  your 
renunciation  ?  It  is  simply  that  a  woman  has  turned  your  head. 
You  want  to  find  yourself  on  the  same  plane  with  her ;  you  want  to 
be  socially  her  equal ;  and  to  do  that  you  think  you  should  throw 
off  those  theatrical  trappings.  You  see,  my  dear  Linn,  if  I  have 
remembered  my  catechism,  you  have  not ;  you  have  forgotten 
that  you  must  learn  and  labor  truly  to  get  your  own  living,  and 
do  your  duty  in  that  state  of  life  unto  which  it  has  pleased  God 
to  call  you.  You  want  to  change  your  state  of  life ;  you  want 
to  become  a  barrister.  What  would  happen  ?  The  chances  are 
entirely  against  your  being  able  to  earn  your  own  living — at 
least  for  years ;  but  what  is  far  more  certain  is  that  your  fash- 
ionable friends — whose  positions  and  occupations  you  admire — 
would  care  nothing  more  about  you.  You  are  interesting  to 
them  now  because  you  are  a  favorite  of  the  public,  because  you 
play  the  chief  part  at  the  Xew  Theatre.  What  would  you  be  as 
a  briefless  barrister  ?  Who  would  provide  you  with  salmon-fish- 
ing and  deer-stalking  then  ?  If  you  aspired  to  marry  one  of 
those  dames  of  high  degree,  what  would  be  your  claims  and 
qualifications  ?  You  say  you  w* ould  almost  rather  be  a  gillie  in 
charge  of  dogs  and  ponies.  A  gillie  in  charge  of  dogs  and  po- 
nies doesn't  enjoy  many  conversations  with  his  young  mistress  ; 
and  if  he  made  bold  to  demand  any  closer  alliance  Pauline 
would  pretty  soon  have  that  Claude  kicked  off  the  premises — 
and  serve  him  right.  If  you  had  come  to  me  and  said,  '  I  am 
too  well  off ;  I  am  being  spoiled  and  petted  to  death ;  the  sim- 
plicity and  dignity  of  life  is  being  wholly  lost  in  all  this  fash- 
ionable flattery,  this  public  notoriety  and  applause ;  and  to  re-, 
cover  myself  a  little — as  a  kind  of  purification — I  am  going  to 
put  aside  my  trappings ;  I  will  go  and  work  as  a  hod-carrier  for 
three  months  or  six  months ;  I  will  live  on  the  plainest  fare  ; 
I  will  bear  patiently  the  cursing  the  master  of  the  gang  will 
undoubtedly  hurl  at  me ;  I  will  sleep  on  a  straw  mattress ' — 
then  I  could  have  understood  that.  But  what  is  it  you  re- 
nounce ? — and  why  ?  You  think  you  would  recommend  your- 
self better  to  your  swell  friends  if  you  dropped  the  theatre  alto- 
gether— " 

"  Don't  you  want  to  hire  a  hall  ?"  said  Lionel,  gloomily. 


372  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS, 

"  Oh,  nobody  likes  being  preached  at  less  than  I  do  myself," 
Mangan  said,  with  perfect  equanimity,  "  but  you  see  I  think  I 
ought  to  tell  you,  when  you  ask  me,  how  I  regard  the  situation. 
And,  mind  you,  there  is  something  very  heroic — very  impracti- 
cably heroic,  but  magnanimous  all  the  same — in  your  idea  that 
you  might  abandon  all  the  popularity  and  position  you  have 
won  as  a  mere  matter  of  sentiment.  Of  course  you  won't  do  it. 
You  couldn't  bring  yourself  to  become  a  mere  nobody — as  would 
happen  if  you  went  into  chambers  and  began  reading  up  law- 
books. And  you  wouldn't  be  any  nearer  to  salmon-fishing  and 
deer-forests  that  way,  or  to  the  people  who  possess  these  by 
birth  and  inheritance.  The  trouble  with  you,  Linn,  my  boy,  as 
with  most  of  us,  is  that  you  weren't  born  in  the  purple.  It  is 
quite  true  that  if  you  were  called  to  the  bar  you  could  properly 
claim  the  title  of  esquire,  and  you  would  find  yourself  not  fur- 
ther down  than  the  hundred  and  fiftieth  or  hundred  and  sixtieth 
section  in  the  tables  of  precedence ;  but  if  you  went  with  this 
qualification  to  those  fine  friends  of  yours,  they  would  admit  its 
validity,  and  let  you  know  at  the  same  time  you  were  no  longer 
interesting  to  them.  Harry  Thornhill,  of  the  New  Theatre,  has 
a  free  passport  everywhere ;  Mr.  Lionel  Moore,  of  the  Middle 
Temple,  wouldn't  be  wanted  anywhere." 

"  You  are  very  worldly-wise  to-night,  Maurice." 

"  I  don't  want  to  see  you  make  a  sacrifice  that  wouldn't  bring 
you  what  you  expect  to  gain  by  it,"  Mangan  said.  "  But,  as  I 
say,  you  won't  make  any  such  sacrifice.  You  have  had  your 
brain  turned  by  a  pretty  pair  of  eyes — perhaps  by  an  elegant 
figure — and  you  have  been  troubled  and  dissatisfied  and  dream- 
ing dreams." 

"  If  that  is  your  conclusion  and  summing-up  of  the  whole 
matter,"  Lionel  said,  with  studied  indifference,  "  perhaps  you 
will  offer  me  a  drink,  and  I'll  have  a  cigarette,  and  we  can  talk 
about  something  on  which  we  are  likely  to  agree." 

"I'm  sure  I  beg  your  pardon,"  Mangan  said,  with  a  laugh; 
and  he  went  and  brought  forth  what  modest  stores  he  had,  and 
he  was  quite  willing  that  the  conversation  should  flow  into  an- 
other channel. 

And  little  did  Lionel  know  that  at  this  very  moment  there  was 
something  awaiting  him  at  his  own  rooms  that  would  (far  more 
effectually  than  any  reasoning  and  plain  speaking)  banish  from 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  273 

his  mind,  for  the  moment  at  least,  all  those  restless  aspirations 
and  vague  regrets.  When  eventually  he  arrived  in  Piccadilly 
and  went  up-stairs,  he  was  not  expecting  any  letters,  this  being 
Sunday ;  and  as  there  was  on  the  table  only  a  small  parcel,  he 
would  probably  have  left  that  unheeded  till  the  morning  (no 
doubt  it  was  a  pair  of  worked  slippers,  or  a  couple  of  ivory- 
backed  brushes,  or  something  of  the  kind)  but  that  in  passing 
he  happened  to  glance  at  the  note  on  the  top  of  it,  and  he  ob- 
served that  the  handwriting  was  foreign.  He  took  it  up  care- 
lessly and  opened  it ;  his  carelessness  soon  vanished.  The  mes- 
sage was  from  Mile.  Girond,  and  it  was  in  French : 

"  Dear  Mr.  Moore, — To-day  Mrs.  Grey  and  I  have  called  twice  at  your 
apartments,  but  iu  vain,  and  now  I  leave  this  letter  for  you.  It  is  frightful, 
what  has  happened.  Nina  has  gone,  no  one  knows  where ;  we  can  hear 
nothing  of  her.  This  morning  when  I  came  down  to  her  room  she  was  gone ; 
there  was  a  letter  for  me,  one  for  Mr.  Lehmann,  one  for  Miss  Constance,  ask- 
ing her  to  be  ready  to  sing  to-morrow  night,  another  for  Mrs.  Grey,  with 
money  for  the  apartments  until  the  end  of  the  month,  and  also  there  was 
this  little  packet  for  you.  In  her  letter  to  me  she  asks  me  to  see  them  all 
delivered.  During  the  night  she  must  have  made  these  arrangements  ;  in  the 
morning  she  is  gone!  I  am  in  despair;  I  know  not  what  to  do.  Will  you 
have  the  goodness  to  come  down  to-morrow  as  soon  as  possible  ? 

"ESTELLE." 

And  then  mechanically  he  drew  a  chair  to  the  table,  and  sat 
down  and  pulled  the  small  package  towards  him ;  perhaps  the 
contents  might  help  to  explain  this  extraordinary  thing  that  had 
occurred.  But  the  moment  that  he  took  the  lid  off  the  pa.ste- 
board  box  he  was  more  bewildered  than  ever ;  for  the  first 
glimpse  told  him  that  Nina  had  returned  to  him  all  the  little 
presents  he  had  made  to  her  in  careless  moments. 

"  Nina  !"  he  said,  under  his  voice,  in  a  tone  of  indignant  re- 
proach. 

Yes,  here  was  every  one  of  them,  from  the  enclasped  loving- 
cup  to  the  chance  trinkets  he  had  purchased  for  her  just  as  they 
happened  to  attract  his  eye.  He  took  them  all  out ;  there  was 
no  letter,  no  message  of  any  kind.  And  then  he  asked  himself, 
almost  angrily,  what  sort  of  mad  freak  was  this.  Had  the  way- 
ward and  petulant  Nina — forgetting  all  the  suave  and  gracious 
demeanor  she  had  been  teaching  herself  since  she  came  to  Eng- 
land— had  she  run  away  in  a  fit  of  temper,  breaking  her  engage- 
ment at  the  theatre,  and  causing  alarm  and  anxiety  to  her  friends, 
12* 


274  PRINCE    FORTUNATU8. 

all  about  nothing?  For  he  and  she  had  not  quarrelled  in  any 
way  whatsoever,  as  far  as  he  knew.  One  fancy,  at  least,  never 
occurred  to  him — or,  if  it  occurred  to  hiui,  it  was  dismissed  in 
a  moment — that  Nina  might  have  had  a  secret  lover ;  that  she 
had  honestly  wished  to  return  these  presents  before  making  an 
elopement.  It  was  quite  possible  that  Nicolo  Ciana,  if  he  had 
heard  of  Nina's  success  in  Eugland,  might  have  pursued  her, 
and  sought  to  marry  so  very  eligible  a  helpmeet ;  but  if  the 
young  man  with  the  greasy  hair  and  the  sham  jewelry  and  the 
falsetto  voice  had  really  come  to  England,  Lionel  knew  who 
would  have  been  the  first  to  bid  him  return  to  his  native  shores 
and  his  zuccherclU.  Had  not  Nina  indignantly  denied  that  he 
had  ever  dared  to  address  her  as  "  Nenna  raia,"  or  that  his  per- 
petual "  Antoniella,  Antonia,"  in  any  way  referred  to  her?  No  ; 
Lionel  did  not  think  that  Nicolo  Ciana  had  much  to  do  with 
Nina's  disappearance. 

And  then,  as  he  regarded  this  little  box  of  useless  jewelry, 
another  wild  guess  flashed  through  his  brain,  leaving  him  some- 
what breathless,  almost  frightened.  Was  it  possible  that  Nina 
had  mistaken  these  gifts  for  love-gifts,  had  discovered  her  mis- 
take, and,  in  a  fit  of  wounded  pride,  had  flung  them  back  and 
fled  forever  from  this  England  that  had  deceived  her  ?  He  was 
not  vain  enough  to  think  there  could  be  anything  more  serious, 
that  Nina  might  be  breaking  her  heart  over  what  had  happened 
to  her ;  but  it  was  quite  enough  if  he  had  unconsciously  led  her 
to  believe  that  he  was  paying  her  attentions.  He  looked  at  that 
loving-cup  with  some  pricking  of  conscience  ;  he  had  to  confess 
that  such  a  gift  was  capable  of  misconstruction.  It  had  never 
occurred  to  him  that  she  might  regard  it  as  some  kind  of  mute 
declaration — as  a  pledge  of  aSection  between  him  and  her  that 
necessitated  no  clearer  understanding.  He  had  seen  the  two  tiny 
goblets  in  a  window  ;  he  had  been  taken  by  the  pretty  silver- 
gilt  ornamentation  ;  he  had  been  interested  in  the  old-fashioned 
custom  ;  and  he  had  lightly  imagined  that  Nina  would  be  pleased 
— that  was  all.  And  now  that  he  thought  of  it,  he  had  to  con- 
fess that  he  had  been  indiscreet.  It  is  true  he  had  given  Nina 
those  presents  from  time  to  time  in  a  careless  and  haphazard 
fashion  that  ought  not  to  have  been  misunderstood — only,  as  he 
had  to  remind  himself,  Nina  must  have  perceived  that  he  did 
not  give  similar  presents  to  Miss  Burgoyne,  or  Estelle  Girond, 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS,  275 

or  anybody  else  in  the  theatre.  And  was  Nina  now  thinking 
that  he  had  treated  her  badly  ? — Nina,  who  had  been  always  his 
sympathizing  friend,  his  gentle  adviser,  and  kind  companion. 
Was  there  any  one  in  the  world  that  he  less  wished  to  harm  ? 
ne  supposed  she  must  have  been  angry  when  she  returned  these 
jewels  and  gew-gaws ;  clearly  she  was  too  proud  to  send  him 
any  other  message.  And  now  she  would  be  away  somewhere, 
where  he  could  not  get  hold  of  her  to  pet  her  into  a  reconcilia- 
tion again ;  no  doubt  there  was  some  hurt  feeling  of  injury  in 
her  heart — perhaps  she  was  even  crying. 

"  Poor  Nina  1"  he  said  to  himself,  little  dreaming  of  the  true 
state  of  afEairs.  "  I  hope  it  isn't  so  ;  but  if  it  is  so,  here  have 
I,  through  mere  thoughtlessness,  wounded  her  pride,  and,  what 
is  more,  interfered  with  her  professional  career.  I  suppose  she'll 
go  right  away  back  to  old  Pandiani ;  and  they'll  be  precious  glad 
to  get  her  now  at  Malta,  after  her  success  in  England.  Perhaps 
some  day  we  shall  hear  of  her  coming  over  here  again,  as  a 
famous  star  in  grand  opera ;  that  will  be  her  revenge.  But  I 
never  thought  Nina  would  want  to  be  revenged  on  me." 

And  yet  he  was  uneasy ;  there  was  something  in  all  this  he 
did  not  understand.  He  began  to  long  for  the  coming  of  the 
next  day,  that  he  might  go  away  down  to  Sloane  Street  and  hear 
what  Miss  Girond  had  to  tell  him.  Why,  for  example,  he  asked 
himself,  had  Nina  taken  this  step  so  abruptly — so  entirely  with- 
out warning?  How  and  when  had  she  made  the  discovery  that  she 
had  mistaken  the  intention  of  those  friendly  little  acts  of  kind- 
ness and  his  constant  association  with  her?  Then  he  tried  to 
remember  on  what  terms  he  had  last  parted  from  her.  It  was 
at  the  theatre,  as  he  patiently  summoned  up  each  circumstance. 
It  was  at  the  theatre,  on  the  preceding  night.  She  had  come  to 
him  in  the  wings,  observing  that  he  looked  rather  vexed,  and 
she  had  given  him  comforting  and  cheerful  words,  as  was  her 
wont.  Surely  there  was  no  anger  in  her  mind  against  him  then. 
But  thereafter?  Well,  he  had  seen  no  more  of  Nina.  When 
Miss  Cunyngham  had  come  behind  the  scenes,  he  had  forgotten 
all  about  Nina.  And  then  suddenly  he  remembered  that  he 
must  have  been  standing  close  by  the  prompter's  box,  absorbed 
in  talking  to  Miss  Cunyngham,  when  Nina  would  have  to  come 
up  to  go  on  the  stage.  Had  she  passed  them  ?  Had  she 
suspected  ?     Had  she,  in  her  proud  and  petted  way,  resented 


276  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

this  intimacy,  and  resolved  to  throw  back  to  him  the  harmless 
little  gifts  he  had  bestowed  on  her?  Poor  Nina!  she  had  al- 
ways been  so  wilful — so  easily  pleased,  so  easily  offended — but 
of  late  he  had  rather  forgotten  that,  for  she  had  been  bearing 
herself  with  what  she  regarded  as  an  English  manner;  and  in- 
deed their  friendship  had  been  so  constant  and  unvarying,  so 
kind  and  considerate  on  both  sides,  that  there  had  been  no  op- 
portunity for  the  half-vexed,  half-laughing  quarrels  of  earlier 
days.  He  would  seek  out  this  spoiled  child  (he  said  to  himself) 
and  scold  her  into  being  good  again.  And  yet,  even  as  he  tried 
to  persuade  himself  that  all  would  still  be  well,  he  could  not 
help  recalling  the  fierce  vehemence  with  which  Nina  had  repudi- 
ated the  suggestion  that  perhaps  she  might  let  some  one  else 
drink  out  of  this  hapless  loving-cup  that  now  lay  before  him. 
*'  I  would  rather  have  it  dashed  to  pieces  and  thrown  into  the 
sea !"  she  had  said,  with  pale  face  and  quivering  lips  and  eyes 
bordering  on  tears.  He  remembered  that  he  had  been  a  little 
surprised  at  the  time — not  thinking  what  it  all  might  mean. 


CHAPTER  XVH. 


When  he  went  down  to  Sloane  Street  in  the  morning,  he  found 
Estclle  eagerly  awaiting  him.  She  received  him  in  Nina's  small 
parlor ;  Mrs.  Grey  had  just  gone  out.  A  glance  round  the  room 
did  not  show  him  any  difference,  except  that  a  row  of  photo- 
graphs (of  himself,  mostly,  in  various  costumes)  had  disappeared 
from  the  mantelshelf. 

"  Well,  what  is  all  this  about  ?"  he  said,  somewhat  abruptly. 

"  Ah,  do  not  blame  me  too  quick !"  Estclle  said,  with  tears 
springing  to  her  clear  blue  eyes.  "  Perhaps  I  am  to  blame — 
perhaps  when  I  see  her  in  such  trouble  on  Saturday  night,  I 
should  entreat  her  to  tell  me  why ;  but  I  said,  '  To-night  I  will 
not  worry  her  more ;  to-morrow  morning  I  will  talk  to  her ;  we 
will  go  for  a  long  walk  together ;  Nina  will  tell  me  all  her  sor- 
row.' Then  the  morning  comes,  and  she  is  gone  away  ;  what 
can  I  do  ?     Twice  I  go  to  your  apartment — " 

"Oh,  I  am  not  blaming  you  at  all,  Miss  Girond,"  he  said,  at 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  277 

once  and  quite  gently.  "  If  anybody  is  to  blame,  I  suppose  it's 
myself,  for  I  appear  to  have  quarrelled  with  Nina  without  know- 
ing it.  Of  course  you  understood  that  that  packet  you  left  yes- 
terday contained  the  various  little  presents  I  have  given  her  from 
time  to  time — worthless  bits  of  things — but  all  the  same  her 
sending  them  back  shows  that  Nina  has  some  ground  of  offence. 
I'm  very  sorry ;  if  I  could  only  get  hold  of  her  I  would  try  to 
reason  with  her ;  but  she  was  always  sensitive  and  proud  and 
impulsive  like  that.  And  then  to  run  away  because  of  some 
fancied  slight — " 

Estelle  interrupted  him  with  a  little  gesture  of  impatience, 
almost  of  despair. 

"  Ah,  you  are  wrong,  you  are  wrong,"  she  said.  "  It  is  far 
more  serious  than  that.  It  is  no  little  quarrel.  It  is  a  pain  that 
stabs  to  the  heart — that  kills.  You  will  see  Nina  never  again 
to  make  up  a  little  quarrel.  She  has  taken  her  grief  away  with 
her.  I  myself,  when  I  first  saw  her  troubled  at  the  theatre,  I 
also  made  a  mistake — I  thought  she  was  hysteric — " 

"At  the  theatre?"  said  he,  with  some  sudden  recalling  of  his 
own  surmise. 

"  You  did  not  regard  her,  perhaps,  towards  the  end  of  her 
part,  on  Saturday  night  ?"  said  Estelle.  "  I  thought  once  she 
would  fall  on  the  stage.  On  the  way  home  I  think  she  was  cry- 
ing— I  did  not  look.  Then  she  is  in  this  room — oh,  so  silent 
and  miserable — as  one  in  despair,  until  I  persuade  her  to  go 
to  sleep  until  the  morning,  when  she  would  tell  me  her  sorrow. 
Then  I  was  reading ;  I  heard  something ;  I  went  to  the  door 
there — it  was  Nina  crying,  oh,  so  bitterly ;  and  when  I  ran  to 
her,  she  was  wild  with  her  grief.  *  My  life  is  broken,  Estelle, 
ray  life  is  broken  !'  she  said — " 

But  here  Estelle  herself  began  to  sob,  and  could  not  get  on 
with  her  story  at  all ;  she  rose  from  her  chair  and  began  to  pace 
up  and  down. 

"  I  cannot  tell  you — it  was  terrible — " 

And  terrible  it  was  for  him,  too,  to  have  this  revelation  made 
to  him.  Now  he  knew  it  was  no  little  quarrel  that  had  sent 
Nina  away ;  it  was  something  far  more  tragic  than  that ;  it  was 
the  sudden  blighting  of  a  life's  hopes. 

"Estelle,"  said  he,  quite  forgetting,  "you  spoke  of  a  letter 
she  had  left  for  you ;  will  you  show  it  to  me  ?" 


378  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

She  took  it  from  her  pocket  and  handed  it  to  him.  There 
was  no  sign  of  haste  or  agitation  in  these  pages ;  Nina's  small 
and  accurate  handwriting  was  as  neat  and  precise  as  ever ; 
she  even  seemed  to  have  been  careful  of  her  English,  as  she 
was  leaving  this  her  last  message,  in  the  dead  watches  of  the 
night : 

"  Dear  Estelle"  [Nina  wrote], — "Forgive  me  for  the  trouble  I  cause  you ; 
but  I  know  you  will  do  what  I  ask,  for  the  sake  of  our  friendship  of  past 
days.  I  leave  a  letter  for  Mr.  Lehmann,  and  one  for  Miss  Constance,  and  a 
packet  for  Mr.  Moore ;  will  you  please  have  them  all  sent  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible? I  hope  Mr.  Lehmann  will  forgive  me  for  any  embarrassment,  but 
Miss  Constance  is  quite  perfect  in  the  part,  and  if  she  gets  the  letter  to-day 
it  will  be  the  longer  notice.  I  enclose  a  ring  for  you,  Estelle ;  if  you  wear  it, 
you  will  sometimes  think  of  Nina.  For  it  is  true  what  I  said  to  you  when 
you  came  into  my  room  to-night — I  go  away  in  the  morning.  I  have  made 
a  terrible  mistake,  an  illusion,  a  folly,  and,  now  that  my  eyes  are  opened,  I 
will  try  to  bear  the  consequences  as  I  can ;  but  I  could  not  go  on  the  stage 
as  well;  it  would  be  too  bad  a  punishment;  I  could  not,  Estelle.  I  must  go, 
and  forget — it  is  so  easy  to  say  forget!  I  go  away  without  feeling  injured 
towards  any  one  ;  it  was  my  own  fault,  no  one  was  in  fault  but  me.  And  if 
I  have  done  wrong  to  any  one,  or  appear  ungrateful,  I  am  sorry;  I  did  not 
wish  it.  Again  I  ask  you  to  say  to  Mr.  Lehmann,  wbo  has  been  so  kind  to 
me  in  the  theatre,  that  I  hope  he  will  forgive  me  the  trouble  I  cause ;  but  I 
could  not  go  on  with  my  part  just  now. 

"  Shall  I  ever  see  you  again,  Estelle  ?  It  is  sad,  but  I  think  not ;  it  is  not 
so  easy  to  forget  as  to  write  it.  Perhaps  some  day  I  send  you  a  line — no, 
perhaps  some  day  I  send  you  a  message ;  but  you  will  not  know  where  I 
am ;  and  if  you  are  my  friend  you  will  not  seek  to  know.  Adieu,  Estelle !  I 
hope  you  will  always  be  happy,  as  you  are  good ;  but  even  in  your  happiest 
days  you  will  sometimes  give  a  thought  to  poor  Nina." 

He  sat  there  looking  at  the  letter,  long  after  he  had  finished 
reading  it ;  there  was  nothing  of  the  petulance  of  a  spoiled  child 
in  this  simple,  this  heartbroken  farewell.  And  Nina  herself  was 
in  every  phrase  of  it — in  her  anxiety  not  to  be  a  trouble  to  any 
one — her  gratitude  for  very  small  kindnesses — her  wish  to  live 
in  the  gentle  remembrance  of  her  friends. 

"  But  why  did  no  one  stop  her  ? — why  did  no  one  remon- 
strate ?"  he  asked,  in  a  sort  of  stupefaction. 

"  Who  could,  then  ?"  said  Mile,  (xirond,  returning  to  her  seat 
and  clasping  her  hands  in  front  of  her.  '*  As  soon  as  the  house- 
maid appears  in  the  morning,  Nina  asks  her  to  come  into  the 
room  ;  the  money  is  put  into  an  envelope  for  Mrs.  Grey  ;  the  not 
great  luggage  is  taken  quiet  down  the  stair,  so  that  no  one  is 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  279 

disturbed.  Everything  is  arranged  ;  you  know  Nina  was  always 
so — so  business-like — " 

"  Yes,  but  the  fool  of  a  housemaid  should  have  ealled  Mrs. 
Grey  !"  he  exclaimed. 

"  But  why,  Mr.  Moore  ?"  Estcllc  continued.  "  She  only  thought 
that  Nina  was  so  considerate — no  one  to  be  awakened — and  then 
a  cab  is  called,  and  Nina  goes  away — " 

"And  of  course  the  housemaid  didn't  hear  what  direction  was 
given  to  the  cabman  !" 

"  No  ;  it  is  a  misfortune,"  said  Estelle,  with  a  sigh.  '*  It  is  a 
misfortune,  but  she  is  not  so  much  in  fault.  She  did  not  con- 
jecture— she  thought  Nina  was  going  to  catch  an  early  train — 
that  she  did  not  wish  to  disturb  any  one.  All  was  in  order ;  all 
natural,  simple;  no  one  can  blame  her.  And  so  poor  Nina  dis- 
appears— " 

"  Yes,  disappears  into  the  world  of  London,  or  into  the  larger 
world,  without  friends,  without  money — had  she  any  money. 
Miss  Girond  ?" 

"  Oh,  yes,  yes  !"  Estelle  exclaimed.  "  You  did  not  know  ? 
Ah,  she  was  so  particular ;  always  exact  in  her  economies,  and 
sometimes  I  laughed  at  her ;  but  always  she  said  perhaps  some 
day  she  would  have  to  play  the  part  of  the — the — benevolent 
fairy  to  some  poor  one,  and  she  must  save  up — " 

"  Had  she  a  bank  account  ?" 

Estelle  nodded  her  head. 

"  Then  she  could  not  have  got  the  money  yesterday,  if  she 
wished  to  withdraw  it ;  she  must  have  been  in  London  this 
morning !" 

"  Perhaps,"  said  Estelle.  "  But  then  !  Look  at  the  letter. 
She  says  if  I  am  her  friend,  I  will  not  seek  to  know  where  she 
is." 

"  But  that  does  not  apply  to  me,"  he  retorted — while  his  brain 
was  filled  with  all  kinds  of  wild  guesses  as  to  whither  Nina  had 
fled. 

"  You  are  not  her  friend  ?"  Estelle  said,  quietly. 

"  If  I  could  only  see  her  for  three  minutes !"  he  said,  in  his 
despair,  as  he  rose  and  went  to  the  window.  "  Why  should  she 
go  away  from  her  friends  if  she  is  in  trouble  ?  Besides  our- 
selves and  the  people  in  the  theatre,  she  knows  no  one  in  this 
country.     If  she  goes  away  back  to  her  acquaintances  in  Italy, 


280  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

she  will  not  say  a  word  ;  she  will  have  no  sympathy,  no  distrac- 
tion of  any  kind ;  and  all  the  success  she  has  gained  here  will 
be  as  good  as  lost.  It  is  like  Nina  to  say  she  blames  no  one ; 
but  her  sending  me  back  those  bits  of  jewelry  tells  me  who  is 
to  blame — " 

Estelle  hesitated. 

"  Can  I  say  ?"  she  said,  in  rather  low  tones,  and  her  eyes  were 
cast  down.  "  Is  it  not  breaking  confidence  ?  But  Nina  was 
speaking  of  you — she  took  me  into  the  shop  in  Piccadilly  to 
show  me  the  beautiful  gold  cup — and  when  I  said  to  her,  '  It  is 
another  present  soon — it  is  a  wedding-ring  soon  he  will  give 
you-'  " 

*'  Then  it  is  you  who  have  been  putting  those  fancies  into  her 
head !"  he  said,  turning  to  her. 

"  I  ?  Not  I !"  answered  Estelle,  with  a  quick  indignation. 
"  It  is  you !  Ah,  perhaps  you  did  not  think — perhaps  you  are 
accustomed  to  have  every  ones — to  have  every  one — give  hom- 
age to  the  great  singer — you  amuse  the  time — ^what  do  you 
care  ?  I  put  such  things  into  her  head  ?  No  ! — not  at  all !  But 
you  !  You  give  her  a  wishing-cup — what  is  the  wish  ?  You 
come  here  often — you  are  very  kind  to  her — oh,  yes,  very  kind, 
and  Nina  is  grateful  for  kindness — you  sing  with  her — what  do 
you  call  them  ? — songs  of  love.  Ah,  yes,  the  chansons  amour- 
euses  are  very  beautiful — very  charming — but  sometimes  they 
break  hearts." 

"  I  tell  you  I  had  no  idea  of  anything  of  the  kind,"  he  said — 
for  to  be  rated  by  the  little  boy-officer  was  a  new  experience. 
"  But  I  am  going  to  try  to  find  Nina — whatever  you  may  choose 
to  do." 

"  I  respect  her  wish,"  said  Mile.  Girond,  somewhat  stiffly. 
However,  the  next  moment  she  had  changed  her  mood.  "  Mr. 
Moore,  if  you  were  to  find  her,  what  then  ?"  she  asked,  rather 
timidly. 

"  I  should  bring  her  back  to  her  friends,"  he  answered,  sim- 
ply enough. 

"  And  then  ?" 

"  I  should  want  to  see  her  as  happy  and  contented  as  she  used 
to  be — the  Nina  we  used  to  know.  I  should  want  to  get  her 
back  to  the  theatre,  where  she  was  succeeding  so  well.  She 
liked  her  work ;  she  was  interested  in  it ;  and  you  know  she 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  281 

was  becoming  quite  a  favorite  with  the  public.  Corae,  Miss 
Girond,"  he  said,  "  you  needn't  be  angry  with  me ;  that  won't 
do  any  good.  I  see  now  I  have  been  very  thoughtless  and  care- 
less ;  I  ought  not  to  have  given  her  that  loving-cup ;  I  ouglit 
not  to  have  given  her  any  of  those  trinkets,  I  suppose.  But  it 
never  occurred  to  me  at  the  time  ;  I  fancied  she  would  be  pleased 
at  the  moment,  that  was  all." 

"  And  you  did  not  reflect,  then,"  said  Estelle,  regarding  him 
for  a  second,  "  what  it  was  that  may  have  brought  Nina  to  Eng- 
land at  the  beginning  ? — no  ? — what  made  her  wish  to  play  at 
the  New  Theatre  ?     Ah,  a  man  is  so  blind  !" 

"  Brought  Nina  to  England  ?"  he  repeated,  rather  bewildered. 

"  But  these  are  only  my  conjectures,"  she  said,  quickly.  "  No, 
I  have  no  secrets  to  tell.  I  ask  myself  what  brings  Nina  to 
England,  to  the  New  Theatre,  to  the  companionship  with  her  old 
friend — I  ask  myself  that,  and  I  see.  But  you — perhaps  it  is 
not  your  fault  that  you  are  blind ;  you  have  so  many  ladies 
seeking  for  favor  you  have  no  time  to  think  of  this  one  or  that, 
or  you  are  grown  indifferent,  it  may  be.  Poor  Nina !  she  that 
was  always  so  proud,  too ;  it  is  herself  that  has  struck  herself ; 
a  deep  wound  to  her  pride  ;  that  is  why  she  goes  away,  and  she 
will  never  come  back.  No,  Mr.  Moore,  she  will  never  come  back. 
I  asked  you  what  you  would  do  if  you  were  to  find  her — it  is 
useless.     She  will  never  come  back  ;  she  is  too  proud." 

Estelle  looked  at  her  watch. 

"  Soon  I  must  go  in  to  the  theatre.  There  was  a  note  from 
Mr.  Lehmann  this  morning ;  he  wishes  me  to  go  over  some 
parts  with  Miss  Constance,  to  make  sure." 

"  What  hour  have  you  to  be  there  ?"  he  said,  taking  up  his 
hat, 

"  Half-past  eleven." 

"  I  will  walk  in  with  you,  if  you  like,"  he  said ;  **  there  will 
be  time.  And  I  want  to  see  that  Lehmann  isn't  put  to  any  in- 
convenience ;  for,  you  know,  I  introduced  Nina  to  the  New 
Theatre." 

On  their  way  into  town  Estelle  was  thoughtful  and  silent ; 
while  Lionel  kept  looking  far  ahead,  as  if  he  expected  to  descry 
Nina  coming  round  some  street-corner  or  in  some  passing  cab. 
But  at  last  his  companion  said  to  him, 

"  You  had  no  quarrel,  then,  with  Nina,  on  the  Saturday  night  ?" 


283  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  None.  On  the  contrary,  the  last  time  she  spoke  to  me  was 
in  the  most  kindly  wa}","  he  said. 

"  Then  why  does  she  resolve  to  send  you  back  those  pres- 
ents ?''  Estelle  asked.  "  Why  is  it  she  knows  all  at  once  that 
her  life  is  broken  ?     You  have  no  conjecture  at  all  ?" 

"  Well,"  said  he,  with  a  little  hesitation,  "  it  is  a  difficult 
thing  to  speak  of.  If  Nina  were  looking  forward  as  you  think 
— if  she  mistook  the  intention  of  those  trinkets  I  gave  her — 
well,  you  know,  there  was  a  young  lady  and  her  mother,  two 
friends  of  mine,  who  came  to  the  theatre  on  Saturday  night, 
and  I  dare  say  Nina  passed  while  I  was  talking  to  the  young 
lady  in  the  wings — and — and  Nina  may  have  imagined  some- 
thing.    I  can  only  guess — it  is  possible — " 

"  Now  I  know,"  said  Estelle,  rather  sadly.  "  Poor  Nina ! 
And  still  you  think  she  would  come  back  if  you  could  find  her  ? 
Her  pride  makes  her  fly  from  you ;  and  you  think  you  would 
persuade  her?  Never,  never!  She  will  not  come  back — she 
would  drown  herself  first." 

"  Oh,  don't  talk  like  that !"  he  said,  with  frowning  brows ; 
and  both  relapsed  into  silence  and  their  own  thoughts. 

Mr.  Lehmann  did  not  seem  much  put  about  by  this  defection 
on  the  part  of  one  of  his  principal  singers. 

"  It  is  a  pity,"  he  said  to  Lionel.  "  She  had  a  fresh  voice ; 
she  was  improving  in  her  stage-business ;  and  the  public  liked 
her.     What  on  earth  made  her  go  ofi  like  this  ?" 

"  She  left  no  explanation  with  me,"  Lionel  said,  honestly 
enough.  "  But  in  her  letter  to  Miss  Girond  she  hopes  you  won't 
be  put  to  any  inconvenience.  By  the  way,  if  Miss  Ross  owes 
you  any  forfeit,  I'll  settle  that  up  with  you." 

"  No,  there's  no  forfeit  in  her  agreement ;  it  wasn't  considered 
necessary,"  the  manager  made  answer.  "  Of  course  I  am  as- 
suming that  it's  all  fair  and  square  ;  that  she  hasn't  gone  off  to 
take  a  better  engagement — " 

"  You  needn't  be  afraid  of  that,"  Lionel  said,  briefly  ;  and,  as 
Miss  Constance  here  made  her  appearance,  he  withdrew  from 
the  empty  stage,  and  presently  had  left  the  building. 

lie  thought  he  would  walk  up  to  the  Restaurant  Gianuzzi  in 
Rupert  Street,  and  make  inquiries  there.  But  he  was  not  very 
hopeful.  B^or  one  thing,  if  Nina  were  desirous  of  concealment 
or  of  getting  free  away,  she  would  not  go  to  a  place  where,  as  he 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  283 

knew,  she  had  lodged  before  ;  for  another,  he  had  disapproved 
of  her  living  there  all  by  herself,  and  Nina  never  forgot  even 
his  least  expression  of  opinion.  When  he  asked  at  the  restau- 
rant if  a  young  lady  had  called  there  on  the  previous  day  to  en- 
gage a  room,  he  was  answered  that  they  had  no  young-lady  visi- 
tor of  any  kind  in  the  house ;  he  was  hardly  disappointed. 

But  as  he  walked  along  and  up  Regent  Street  (here  were  the 
well-remembered  shops  that  Nina  and  he  used  to  glance  into  as 
they  passed  idly  on,  talking  sometimes,  sometimes  silent,  but 
very  well  content  in  each  other's  society)  he  began  to  ask  him- 
self whether  in  truth  he  ought  to  seek  out  Nina  and  try  to  inter- 
cept her  flight,  even  if  that  were  yet  possible.  Estelle's  ques- 
tions were  significant.  "What  would  he  do,  supposing  he  could 
induce  Nina  to  come  back  ?  At  present,  he  vaguely  wished  to 
restore  the  old  situation — to  have  Nina  again  among  her  friends, 
happy  in  her  work  at  the  theatre,  ready  to  go  out  for  a  stroll 
with  him  if  the  morning  were  fine.  He  wanted  his  old  comrade, 
who  was  always  so  wise  and  prudent  and  cheerful,  whom  he 
could  always  please  by  sending  her  down  a  new  song,  a  new 
waltz,  an  Italian  illustrated  journal,  or  some  similar  little  token 
of  remembrance.  But  if  Estelle's  theory  were  the  true  one,  that 
Nina  was  gone  forever,  never  to  return  ;  her  place  was  vacant 
now,  never  to  be  refilled  ;  and  somewhere  or  other — perhaps  hid- 
den in  London,  perhaps  on  her  way  back  to  her  native  land — there 
was  a  woman,  proud,  silent,  and  tearless,  her  heart  quivering  from 
the  blow  that  he  had  unintentionally  dealt.  How  could  he  face 
that  Nina  ?  What  humble  explanations  and  apologies  could  he 
offer?  To  ask  her  to  come  back  would  of  itself  be  an  insult. 
Her  wrongs  were  her  defence ;  she  was  sacred  from  intrusion, 
from  expostulation  and  entreaty. 

At  the  theatre  that  evening  he  let  the  public  fare  as  it  liked, 
so  far  as  his  part  in  the  performance  was  concerned.  He  got 
through  his  duties  mechanically.  The  stage  lacked  interest ; 
the  wings  were  empty ;  the  long,  glazed  corridor  conveyed  a 
mute  reproach.  As  for  the  new  Clara,  Miss  Constance  did  fair- 
ly well ;  she  had  not  much  of  a  voice,  but  she  was  as  bold  as 
brass,  and  her  "  cheek  "  seemed  to  be  approved  by  the  audience. 
At  one  point  Estelle  came  up  to  him. 

"  Is  it  not  a  change  for  no  Nina  to  be  in  the  theatre  ?  But 
there  is  one  that  is  glad — oh,  very  glad !     Miss  Burgovne  re- 


384  PRINCE   FORTUNATUS. 

joices !" — and  Estelle,  as  she  passed  on,  made  use  of  a  phrase 
in  French,  which,  perhaps  fortunately,  he  did  not  understand. 

After  the  performance,  he  went  up  to  the  Garden  Club — he 
did  not  care  to  go  home  to  his  own  rooms  and  sit  thinking. 
And  the  first  person  he  saw  after  he  passed  into  the  long  coffee- 
room  was  Octavius  Quirk,  who  was  seated  all  by  himself  devour- 
ing a  Gargantuan  supper. 

"This  is  luck,"  Lionel  said  to  himself.  "Maurice's  Jabber- 
wock  will  begin  with  his  blatherskite  nonsense  —  it  will  be 
something  to  pass  the  time." 

But  on  the  contrary,  as  it  turned  out,  the  short,  fat  man  with 
the  unwholesome  complexion  was  not  at  this  moment  in  the  hu- 
mor for  frothy  and  windy  invective  about  nothing  ;  perhaps  the 
abundant  supper  had  mollified  him  ;   he  was  quite  suave. 

"  Ah,  Moore,"  said  he,  "  haven't  seen  you  since  you  came 
back  from  Scotland.  It  was  awfully  kind  of  Lady  Adela  to 
send  me  a  haunch  of  venison." 

"  It  would  serve  you  for  one  meal,  I  suppose,"  Lionel  thought ; 
he  did  not  say  so. 

"  I  dine  with  them  to-morrow  night,"  continued  Mr.  Quirk, 
complacently. 

"  Oh,  indeed,"  said  Lionel ;  Lady  Adela  seemed  rather  in  a 
hurry,  immediately  on  her  return  to  town,  to  secure  her  tame 
critic. 

"  Very  good  dinners  they  give  you  up  there  at  Campden  Hill," 
Mr.  Quirk  resumed,  as  he  took  out  a  big  cigar  from  his  case. 
"  Excellent — excellent — and  the  people  very  well  chosen,  too,  if  it 
weren't  for  that  loathsome  brute,  Quincey  Hooper.  Why  do 
they  tolerate  a  fellow  like  that — the  meanest  lick-spittle  and 
boot-blacker  to  any  Englishman  who  has  got  a  handle  to  his 
name,  while  all  the  time  he  is  writing  in  his  wretched  Philadel- 
phia rag  every  girding  thing  he  can  think  of  against  England. 
Comparison,  comparison,  continually — and  far  more  venomous 
than  the  foolish,  feeble  sort  of  stuff  which  is  only  Anglophobia 
and  water ;  and  yet  Hooper  hasn't  the  courage  to  speak  out  either 
— it's  a  morbid  envy  of  England  that  is  afraid  to  declare  itself 
openly  and  can  only  deal  in  hints  and  innuendoes.  What  can 
Lady  Adela  see  in  a  fellow  like  that?  Of  course  lie  writes  puf- 
fing paragraphs  about  her  and  sends  them  to  her ;  but  what 
good  arc  they  to  lier,  coming  from  America?     She  wants  to  be 


PRINCE    F0RTUNATU8.  285 

recognized  as  a  clever  woman  by  her  own  set.  She  appeals  to 
the  dii  majorum  gentium  ;  what  does  she  care  for  the  verdict  of 
Washington  or  Philadelphia  or  New  York  ?" 

Well,  Lionel  had  no  opinion  to  express  on  this  point ;  on  a 
previous  occasion  he  had  wondered  why  these  two  augurs  had 
not  been  content  to  agree,  seeing  that  the  wide  Atlantic  rolled 
between  their  respective  spheres  of  operation. 

"  I  have  been  favored,"  resumed  Mr.  Quirk,  more  blandly, 
"  with  a  sight  of  some  portions  of  Lady  Adela's  new  novel." 

"  Already  ?" 

"  Oh,  it  isn't  nearly  finished  yet ;  but  she  has  had  the  earlier 
chapters  set  up  in  type,  so  that  she  could  submit  them  to — to 
her  particular  friends,  in  fact.  You  haven't  seen  them  ?"  asked 
Mr.  Quirk,  lifting  his  heavy  and  boiled-gooseberry  eyes  and  look- 
ing at  Lionel. 

"  Oh,  no,"  was  the  answer.  "  My  judgment  is  of  no  use  to 
her ;  she  is  aware  of  that.  I  hope  you  were  pleased  with  what 
you  saw  of  it.  Her  last  novel  was  not  quite  so  successful  as 
they  had  hoped,  was  it  ?" 

"  My  dear  fellow  !"  Mr.  Quirk  exclaimed,  in  astonishment  (for 
he  could  not  have  the  power  of  the  log-rollers  called  in  question). 
"  Not  successful  ?  Most  successful ! — most  successful !  I  don't 
know  that  it  produced  so  much  money^but  what  is  that  to 
people  in  their  sphere  ?" 

"  Perhaps  not  much,"  said  Lionel,  timidly  (for  what  did  he 
know  about  such  esoteric  matters  ?).  "  I  suppose  the  money 
they  might  get  from  a  novel  would  be  of  little  consideration — 
but  it  would  show  that  the  book  had  been  read." 

"  And  what,  again,  do  they  care  for  vulgar  popularity  ? — the 
approbation  of  the  common  herd — of  the  bovine-headed  multi- 
tude ?  No,  no,  it  is  the  verdict  of  the  polished  world  they  seek 
— it  is  fame — eclat — it  is  recognition  from  their  peers.  It  may 
be  only  un  succes  (Testime — all  the  more  honorable  !  And  I  must 
say  Lady  Adela  is  a  very  clever  woman  ;  the  pains  she  takes  to 
get  *  Kathleen's  Sweethearts  '  mentioned  even  now  are  wonderful. 
Indeed,  I  propose  to  give  her  an  additional  hint  or  two  to-mor- 
row.    Of  course  you  know is  doomed  ?"  asked  Mr.  Quirk, 

naming  a  famous  statesman  who  was  then  very  seriously  ill. 

"  Really  ?" 

"  Oh,  yes.      Gout  at  the  heart ;  hopeless  complications ;  he 


286  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

can't  possibly  last  another  ten  days.  Very  well,"  continued  Mr. 
Quirk,  with  much  satisfaction,  as  if  Providence  were  working 
hand  in  hand  with  him,  "  I  mean  to  advise  Lady  Adela  to  send 
him  a  copy  of  '  Kathleen's  Sweethearts.'  Now  do  you  under- 
stand ?  No  ?  Why,  man,  if  there's  any  luck,  when  he  dies  and 
all  the  memoirs  come  out  in  the  newspapers,  it  will  be  mentioned 
that  the  last  book  the  deceased  statesman  tried  to  read  was  Lady 
Adela  Cunyngham's  well-known  novel.  Do  you  see?  Good 
business  ?  Then  there's  another  thing  she  must  absolutely  do 
with  her  new  book.  These  woman-suffrage  people  are  splendid 
howlers  and  spouters ;  let  her  go  in  for  woman-suffrage  thick 
and  thin — and  she'll  get  quoted  on  a  hundred  dozen  of  plat- 
forms. That's  the  way  to  do  it,  you  know  !  Bless  you,  the 
publishers'  advertisements  are  no  good  at  all  nowadays  !" 

Lionel  was  not  paying  very  much  heed ;  perhaps  that  was 
why  he  rather  indifferently  asked  Mr.  Quirk  whether  he  himself 
was  in  favor  of  extending  the  suffrage  to  women, 

"  I  ?"  cried  Mr.  Quirk,  with  a  boisterous  horse-laugh.  "  What 
do  I  care  about  it  ?  Let  them  suffer  away  as  much  as  ever  they 
like !" 

"  Yes,  they're  used  to  that,  aren't  they  ?"  said  Lionel. 

"  What  I  want  to  do  is  to  put  Lady  Adela  up  to  a  dodge  or 
two  for  getting  her  book  talked  about ;  that's  the  important  and 
immediate  point,  and  I  think  I  can  be  of  some  service  to  her," 
said  Mr.  Quirk  ;  and  then  he  added,  more  pompously,  "  I  think 
she  is  willing  to  place  herself  entirely  in  my  hands." 

Happily  at  this  moment  there  came  into  the  room  two  or 
three  young  gentlemen,  intent  upon  supper  and  subsequent 
cards,  who  took  possession  of  the  farther  end  of  the  table ;  and 
Lionel  was  glad  to  get  up  and  join  the  new-comers,  for  he  felt 
he  could  not  cat  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  this  ill- 
favored  person.  He  had  his  poached  eggs  and  a  pint  of  hock 
in  the  company  of  these  new  friends  ;  and,  after  having  for  some 
time  listened  to  their  ingenuous  talk — which  was  chiefly  a  lau- 
dation of  Miss  Nellie  Farren — he  lit  a  cigarette  and  set  out  for 
home. 

So  it  was  Octavius  Quirk  who  was  now  established  as  Lady 
Adela's  favorite  ?  It  was  he  who  was  shown  the  first  sheets  of 
the  new  novel ;  it  was  he  who  was  asked  to  dinner  immediately 
on  the  return  of  the  family  from  Scotland  ;  it  was  he  who  was 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  287 

to  be  Lady  Adela's  chief  counsellor  throughout  the  next  appeal 
to  the  British  public  ?  And  perhaps  he  advised  Lady  Sybil, 
also,  about  the  best  way  to  get  her  musical  compositions  talked 
of ;  and  might  not  one  expect  to  find,  in  some  minor  exhibition, 
a  portrait  of  Octavius  Quirk,  Esq.,  by  Lady  Rosamund  Bourne  ? 
It  seemed  a  gruesome  kind  of  thing  to  think  of  these  three 
beautiful  women  paying  court  to  that  lank-haired,  puffy,  bilious- 
looking  baboon.  He  wondered  what  Miss  Georgie  Lestrange 
thought  of  it ;  Miss  Georgie  had  humorous  eyes  that  could  say 
a  good  deal.  And  Lord  Rockminster — how  did  Lord  Rockmin- 
ster  manage  to  tolerate  this  uncouth  creature  ? — was  his  good- 
natured  devotion  to  his  three  accomplished  sisters  equal  even  to 
that  ? 

Lionel  did  not  proceed  to  ask  himself  why  he  had  grown  sud- 
denly jealous  of  a  man  whom  he  himself  had  introduced  to 
Lady  Adela  Cunyngham.  Yet  the  reason  was  not  far  to  seek. 
Before  his  visit  to  Scotland,  it  would  have  mattered  little  to  him 
if  any  one  of  his  lady  friends — or  any  half  dozen  of  them,  for 
the  matter  of  that — had  ^.ppeared  inclined  to  put  some  other 
favorite  in  his  place ;  for  he  had  an  abundant  acquaintance  in 
the  fashionable  world ;  and,  indeed,  had  grown  somewhat  cal- 
lous to  their  polite  attentions.  But  Lady  Adela  and  her  two 
sisters  were  relations  of  Honnor  Cunyngham ;  they  were  going 
down  to  Brighton  this  very  week ;  he  was  anxious  (though  hard- 
ly knowing  why)  to  stand  well  in  their  opinion  and  be  of  impor- 
tance in  their  eyes.  As  he  now  walked  home  he  thought  he 
would  go  and  call  on  Lady  Adela  the  following  afternoon ;  if 
she  were  going  down  to  that  house  in  Adelaide  Crescent,  there 
would  be  plenty  of  talk  among  the  women-folk ;  his  name  might 
be  mentioned. 

Next  morning  there  was  no  further  word  of  Nina.  When  he 
had  got  his  fencing  over,  he  went  along  to  Sloane  Street,  but 
hardly  with  any  expectation  of  news.  No,  Estelle  had  nothing 
to  tell  him ;  Nina  had  gone  away — and  wished  to  remain  undis- 
covered. 

"  Poor  Nina !"  said  Estelle,  with  a  sigh. 

Somewhat  early  in  the  afternoon  he  went  up  to  Campden 
Hill.  Lady  Adela  was  at  home.  He  noticed  that  the  man-ser- 
vant who  ushered  him  into  the  drawing-room  was  very  slow  and 
circumspect  about  it,  as  if  he  wished  to  give  ample  warning  to 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 


those  within  ;  and,  indeed,  just  as  he  had  come  into  the  hall,  he 
had  fancied  he  heard  a  faint  shriek,  which  startled  him  not  a  lit- 
tle. When  he  now  entered  the  room  he  found  Miss  Georgie  Le- 
strange  standing  in  the  middle  of  the  floor,  while  Lady  Adela 
was  seated  at  a  small  writing-table  a  little  way  oflE.  They  both 
greeted  him  in  the  most  friendly  fashion  ;  and  then  Miss  Georgie 
(a  little  embarrassed,  as  he  imagined)  went  towards  the  French 
window  and  looked  out  into  the  wintry  garden. 

"  You  have  come  most  opportunely,  Mr.  Moore,"  said  Lady 
Adela,  in  her  pleasant  way.  "  I'm  sure  you'll  be  able  to  tell  us : 
how  high  would  a  woman  naturally  throw  her  arms  on  coming 
suddenly  on  a  dead  body  ?" 

He  was  somewhat  staggered. 

"  I — I'm  sure  I  don't  know." 

"  You  see,  Georgie  has  been  so  awfully  kind  to  me  this  morn- 
ing," Lady  Adela  continued.  "  I  have  arrived  at  some  very 
dramatic  scenes  in  my  new  story,  and  she  has  been  good  enough 
to  act  as  my  model ;  I  want  to  have  everything  as  vivid  as  pos- 
sible ;  and  why  shouldn't  a  writer  have  a  model  as  well  as  a 
painter?  I  hope  to  have  all  the  attitudes  strictly  correct — to 
describe  even  the  tone  of  her  shriek  when  she  comes  upon  the 
dead  body  of  her  brother.  Imagination  first,  then  actuality  of 
detail ;  Rose  tells  me  that  Mr.  Mcllord,  after  he  has  finished  a 
portrait,  won't  put  in  a  blade  of  grass  or  a  roseleaf  without  hav- 
ing it  before  him.  If  there's  to  be  a  crust  of  bread  on  the 
table,  he  must  have  the  crust  of  bread." 

"  Yes,  but  Mr.  Moore,"  said  Miss  Georgie,  coming  suddenly 
back  from  the  window — and  she  was  blushing  furiously,  up  to 
the  roots  of  her  pretty  golden-red  hair,  and  covertly  laughing  at 
the  same  time,  "  my  difficulty  is  that  I  try  to  do  ray  best  as  the 
woman  who  unexpectedly  sees  her  dead  brother  before  her ; 
but  I've  got  nothing  to  come  and  go  on.  I  never  saw  a  dead 
body  in  my  life ;  and  it  would  hardly  do  to  try  it  with  a  real 
dead  body — " 

"  Georgie,  don't  be  horrid !"  Lady  Adela  said,  severely. 
•'  Here  is  Mr.  Moore,  who  can  tell  you  how  high  the  hands 
should  be  held,  and  whether  they  should  be  clenched  or  open." 

"  Well,  Lady  Adela,"  he  said,  in  his  confusion  (for  he  was  in 
mortal  terror  lest  she  should  ask  him  to  get  up  and  posture  be- 
fore her),  "  the  fact  is  that  on  the  stage  there  arc  so  many  ways 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  289 

of  expressing  fear  or  dismay  that  no  two  people  would  probably 
adopt  the  same  gestures.  Would  you  have  her  hands  above 
her  head  ?  Wouldn't  it  be  more  natural  for  her  to  have  them 
about  the  height  of  her  shoulders  —  the  elbows  drawn  tight- 
ly back  —  her  palms  uplifted  as  if  to  shut  away  the  terrible 
sight?—" 

"  Yes,  yes  !"  said  Lady  Adela,  eagerly  ;  and  she  quickly  scrib- 
bled some  notes  on  the  paper  before  her.  "  The  very  thing  ! — 
the  very  thing !" 

"  But  don't  you  think,"  he  ventured  to  say,  "  that  that  would 
look  rather  mechanical — rather  stagey,  in  fact  ?  I  know  noth- 
ing about  writing ;  but  I  should  think  you  would  want  to  deal 
mostly  with  the  expression  of  the  woman's  face — " 

"  I  want  to  have  it  all  1"  the  anxious  authoress  exclaimed.  "  I 
want  to  have  attitudes — gestures — everything ;  to  make  the  pict- 
ure vivid.     I  must  have  the  actual  tone  of  her  shriek — " 

"  Which  Mr.  Moore  heard  as  he  came  in,"  Miss  Georgie  said, 
as  a  kind  of  challenge. 

*'  Yes,  I  thought  I  heard  a  slight  cry,"  he  admitted,  gravely. 

"Thank  you  so  much,  Mr.  Moore,"  said  Lady  Adela,  with  her 
most  charming  smile,  as  she  began  to  fold  up  her  notes.  "  The 
little  piece  of  realism  you  have  suggested  will  come  in  admi- 
rably ;  and  I  think  I've  done  enough  for  to-day — thanks  to 
Georgie  here,  who  has  just  been  an  angel  of  patience." 

Tea  followed,  and  some  idle  talk,  during  which  Lionel  learned 
that  Lady  Adela  and  her  sisters  were  going  down  to  Brighton 
the  following  day.  He  incidentally  mentioned  Octavius  Quirk's 
name  ;  whereupon  his  hostess,  who  was  a  sharp  and  a  shrewd 
woman  when  she  was  not  dabbling  in  literature,  instantly  and 
graciously  explained  to  him  that  she  had  been  corresponding  a 
good  deal  with  Octavius  Quirk  of  late,  over  her  new  work.  She 
informed  him,  further,  that  Octavius  Quirk  was  coming  to  dine 
there  that  evening  —  what  a  pity  it  was  that  Mr.  Moore  was 
engaged  every  evening  at  the  theatre  !  When  Lionel  left,  she 
had  persuaded  him  that  he  was  just  as  much  a  favorite  as  ever  ; 
he  could  very  well  understand  that  she  had  cultivated  Octavius 
Quirk's  acquaintance  only  in  his  capacity  as  a  kind  of  pseudo- 
literary  person. 

Day  after  day  of  this  lonely  week  passed  ;  Lionel,  all  unknown 
to  himself,  was  marching  onward  to  his  fate.  On  the  Saturday 
13 


390  PEINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

there  were  two  performances  of  *'  The  Squire's  Daughter  ;"  at 
night  he  felt  very  tired — which  was  unusual  with  him  ;  that,  or 
some  other  palpable  excuse,  was  sufficient  to  take  him  down  to 
Victoria  station  on  the  Sunday  morning.  He  had  forgotten,  or 
put  aside,  all  Maurice  Mangan's  cool-blooded  presentation  of  his 
case ;  undefined  longings  were  in  his  brain ;  the  future  was  to 
be  quite  different  from  the  past — and  somehow  Honnor  Cun- 
yngham  was  the  central  figure  in  these  mirage-like  visions.  He 
had  formed  no  definite  plans;  he  had  prepared  no  persuasive 
appeal ;  the  only  and  immediate  thing  he  knew  was  that  he 
wished  to  be  in  the  same  place  with  her,  breathing  the  same  air 
with  her,  with  the  chance  of  catching  a  distant  glimpse  of  her, 
even  if  he  were  himself  to  remain  unseen.  Would  she  be  out 
walking  along  the  sea-front  after  church  ?  Surely  so,  when  she 
had  Lady  Adela  and  her  sisters  as  her  guests.  And  if  not,  he 
would  call  in  the  afternoon  ;  how  well  he  remembered  the  rather 
dusky  drawing-room  and  its  curious  scent  of  sweet-briar  or  some 
similar  perfume.  A  hushed  half-hour  there  would  be  something 
to  be  treasured  up  and  conned  over  again  and  again  in  subse- 
quent recollection.  Would  she  be  sitting  near  the  window,  half- 
shadowed  by  the  curtains?  Or  standing  in  front  of  the  fire, 
perhaps,  absently  gazing  into  it,  her  tall  and  elegant  figure  out- 
lined by  the  crimson  flames  ? 

When  he  arrived  at  Brighton  he  walked  rapidly  away  down 
to  the  King's  Road,  and  there  he  moderated  his  pace,  keeping 
his  eyes  alert.  The  people  were  beginning  to  come  out  from 
the  various  churches ;  and  many  of  them,  before  going  in-doors, 
joined  that  slow  promenade  up  and  down  the  greensward  far- 
ther west.  But,  look  where  he  might,  there  was  no  sign  of 
Lady  Cunyngham  and  her  daughter,  nor  of  Lady  Adela  and  her 
two  sisters.  They  would  have  been  easily  distinguishable,  he 
thought.  That  they  were  in  Brighton,  he  had  no  doubt ;  but 
apparently  they  were  nowhere  in  this  throng ;  so,  rather  down- 
hearted, he  retraced  his  steps  to  the  Orleans  Club,  where  he 
passed  an  hour  or  two  with  such  acquaintances  as  he  met  there. 

He  was  more  fortunate  in  the  afternoon.  When  he  went 
along  to  Adelaide  Crescent,  Lady  Cunyngham  and  her  daughter 
were  both  at  home ;  and  it  was  with  a  sense  of  joyous  relief — 
and  yet  with  a  touch  of  disquietude  too — that  he  found  himself 
ascending  the  soft-carpeted  stairs.     When  he  was  shown  into 


PRINCE    FORTUNATCS.  291 

the  drawing-room,  he  found  only  one  occupant  there — it  was 
Ilonnor  Cunyngham  herself,  who  was  standing  by  a  big  port- 
folio set  on  a  brass  stand,  and  apparently  engaged  in  arranging 
some  large  photographs.  She  turned  and  greeted  him  very 
pleasantly  and  without  any  surprise ;  she  went  to  two  low  set- 
tles coming  out  at  right  angles  from  the  fireplace  and  sat  down, 
while  he  took  a  scat  opposite  her ;  if  he  was  rather  nervous  and 
bewildered,  at  finding  himself  thus  suddenly  face  to  face  with 
her  and  alone  with  her,  she  was  quite  calm  and  self-possessed. 

"  Mother  has  just  gone  up-stairs ;  she  will  be  here  presently," 
Miss  Ilonnor  said.  "  But  what  a  pity  my  sisters  did  not  know 
you  were  coming  down.  After  church  they  all  went  off  to  visit 
an  old  lady,  a  great  friend  of  theirs,  who  can't  get  out-of-doors 
nowadays ;  and  so  I  suppose  they  stayed  on  so  as  to  keep  her 
company.  However,  I  have  no  doubt  they  will  be  here  before 
long.  What  a  pleasant  thing  it  must  be  for  you,"  she  added, 
"  to  be  able  to  run  down  to  Brighton  for  a  day  after  a  week's 
hard  work  at  the  theatre." 

"  Yes,"  he  answered,  in  a  half-bitter  kind,  of  fashion.  "  It  is 
a  pleasant  thing  to  get  away  from  the  theatre — -anywhere.  I 
think  I  am  becoming  rather  sick  of  the  theatre  and  all  its  asso- 
ciations." ' 

"  Really,  Mr.  Moore,"  she  said,  with  a  smile,  "  it  is  surprising 
to  hear  you  say  so — you  of  all  men." 

"  What  comes  of  it  ?  You  play  the  fool  before  a  lot  of  idle 
people,  until — until — your  nature  is  subdued  to  what  it  works 
in,  I  suppose.  What  service  do  you  do  to  any  human  being  ? — 
of  what  use  are  you  in  the  world  ?" 

"  Surely  you  confer  a  benefit  on  the  public  when  you  provide 
them  with  innocent  amusement,"  she  ventured,  to  say — she  had 
not  considered  this  subject  much,  if  at  all. 

"  But  what  comes  of  it  ?  They  laugh  for  an  hour  or  two  and 
go  home.     It  is  all  gone — like  a  breath  of  wind — " 

"  But  isn't  mere  distraction  a  useful  and  wholesome  thing  ?" 
she  remonstrated  again.  "  I  know  a  great  philosopher  who  is 
exceedingly  fond  of  billiards,  and  very  eager  about  the  game 
too ;  but  he  doesn't  expect  to  gain  any  moral  enlightenment 
from  three  balls  and  a  bit  of  stick.  Distraction,  amusement,  is 
necessary  to  human  beings ;  we  can't  always  be  thinking  of  the 
problems  of  life." 


292  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  They  talk  of  the  divine  power  of  song !"  he  continned. 
*'  Well,  what  I  want  to  do  is  this.  I  can  sing  a  little ;  and  I 
want  to  know  that  this  gift  I  have  from  Nature  hasn't  been  en- 
tirely thrown  away — scattered  to  the  winds  and  lost.  Here  in 
Brighton  they  are  always  getting  up  morning  or  afternoon  con- 
certs for  charitable  purposes ;  and  I  wish,  Miss  Honnor,  when 
you  happen  to  be  interested  in  any  of  these,  you  would  let  me 
know ;  I  should  be  delighted  to  run  down  and  volunteer  ray 
services.  I  should  be  just  delighted.  It  would  be  something 
saved.  If  I  were  struck  down  by  an  illness,  and  had  to  lie  think- 
ing, I  could  say  to  myself  that  I  had  done  this  little  scrap  of 
good — not  much  for  a  man  to  do,  but  I  suppose  all  that  could 
be  expected  from  a  singer." 

She  could  not  understand  this  strange  disparagement  of  him- 
self and  his  profession ;  and  she  may  have  been  vaguely  afraid 
of  the  drift  of  these  confidences ;  at  all  events,  when  she  had 
thanked  him  for  his  generous  offer,  she  rose  and  went  to  the 
portfolio. 

"  There  are  some  things  here  that  I  think  will  interest  you, 
Mr.  Moore,"  she  said.  "  They  only  arrived  last  night,  and  I  was 
just  putting  them  away  when  you  came  in." 

He  went  to  the  portfolio ;  she  took  out  two  or  three  large 
photographs  and  handed  them  to  him ;  the  first  glance  showed 
him  what  they  were — pictures  of  the  Aivron  and  the  Geinig  val- 
leys, with  the  rocks  and  pools  and  overhanging  woods  he  knew 
so  well.     He  regarded  them  for  an  instant  or  two. 

"Do  you  know  what  first  made  me  long  to  get  away  from 
the  theatre  ?"  he  said,  in  a  low  voice.  "  It  was  those  places  there. 
It  was  Strathaivron — and  you." 

"  I,  Mr.  Moore  ?" 

And  now  he  had  to  go  on  ;  he  had  taken  his  fate  in  his  hands  ; 
there  was  some  kind  of  despairing  recklessness  in  his  brain  ;  his 
breath  came  and  went  quickly  and  painfully  as  he  spoke. 

"  Well,  I  must  tell  you  now,  whatever  comes  of  it.  I  must 
tell  you  the  truth — you  may  think  it  madness — I  cannot  help 
that.  What  I  want  to  do  is  to  give  up  the  theatre  altogether. 
I  want  to  let  all  that  go,  with  a  past  never  to  bo  regretted — never 
to  be  recalled.  I  want  to  make  for  myself  a  new  future — if  you 
will  share  it  with  me." 

"  Mr.  Moore  !" 


PaiNCE    FORTUNATUS.  2ttJ 

Their  eyes  met ;  hers  frightened,  his  eagerly  and  tremblingly 
expectant. 

"  There,  now  you  know  the  truth.  Will  you  say  but  one 
word  ?     Honnor — may  I  hope  ?" 

lie  sought  to  take  her  hand,  but  she  shrank  back  a  step — not 
iu  anger,  but  apparently  quite  stupefied. 

"  Oh,  no,  no,  Mr.  Moore,"  she  said,  piteously.  "  What  have  I 
done  ?  How  could  I  imagine  you  were  thinking  of  any  such 
thing  ?  And — and  on  my  account — that  you  should  dream  of 
making  such  a  sacrifice — ^giving  up  your  reputation  and  your 
position — " 

Where  was  his  acting  now  ? — where  the  passionate  appeal  he 
would  have  made  on  the  stage  ?  He  stood  stock-still — his  eyes 
bent  earnestly  on  hers — and  he  spoke  slowly : 

"  It  is  no  sacrifice.  It  is  nothing.  I  wish  for  another  life — but 
with  you — with  you.     Have  you  one  word  of  hope  to  give  me  V 

He  saw  his  answer  already. 

"  I  cannot — I  cannot,"  she  said,  with  downcast  eyes,  and  ob- 
viously in  such  deep  distress  that  his  heart  smote  him. 

"  It  is  enough,"  said  he.  "  I — I  was  a  fool  to  deceive  myself 
with  such  imaginings — that  are  far  beyond  me.  You  will  for- 
give me.  Miss  Honnor ;  I  did  not  wish  to  cause  you  any  paiu ; 
why,  what  harm  is  done  except  that  I  have  been  too  presumptu- 
ous and  too  frank — and  you  will  forget  that.  Tell  me  you  for- 
give me !" 

He  held  out  his  hand ;  she  took  it  for  a  moment ;  and  for  an- 
other moment  he  held  hers  in  a  firm  grasp. 

"  If  I  could  tell  you,"  he  said,  in  a  low  voice,  "  what  I  thought 
of  you — what  every  one  thinks  of  you — you  might  perhaps  un- 
derstand why  I  have  dared  to  speak." 

She  withdrew  her  hand  quickly ;  her  mother  was  at  the  door. 
When  Lady  Cunyngham  came  into  the  room,  her  daughter  was 
apparently  turning  over  those  photographs  and  engravings. 
Lionel  went  forward  to  the  elder  lady  to  pay  his  respects ;  there 
w-as  a  brief  conversation,  introduced  by  Miss  Honnor,  about  Mr, 
Moore's  generous  proposal  to  sing  at  any  charitable  concert  they 
might  be  interested  in ;  and  then,  as  soon  as  he  could,  Lionel 
said  good-bye,  left  the  house,  and  passed  into  the  outer  world — 
where  the  dusk  of  the  December  afternoon  was  coming  down 
over  the  far  wastes  of  sea. 


294  PKINCK    FORTUNATUS. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

AN    INVOCATION. 

All  his  vague,  wild,  impracticable  hopes  and  schemes  had  sud- 
denly received  their  death-blow  ;  but  there  was  nothing  worse 
than  that;  he  himself  (as  he  imagined)  had  been  dealt  no  des- 
perate wound.  For  one  thing,  flattered  and  petted  as  this  young 
man  had  been,  he  was  neither  unreasoning  nor  vain ;  that  a  wom- 
an should  have  refused  to  marry  him  did  not  seem  to  him  a 
monstrous  thing ;  she  was  surely  within  her  right  in  saying  no  ; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  he  was  neither  going  to  die  of  chagrin 
nor  yet  to  plan  a  melodramatic  revenge.  But  the  truth  was 
that  he  had  never  been  passionately  in  love  with  Honnor  Cun- 
yngham.  Passionate  love  he  did  not  much  believe  in  ;  he  as- 
sociated it  with  lime-light  and  crowded  audiences  and  the  odor 
of  gas.  Indeed,  it  might  almost  be  said  that  he  had  been  in 
love  not  so  much  with  Honnor  Cunyngham  as  with  the  condi- 
tion of  life  which  she  represented.  He  had  grown  restless  and 
dissatisfied  with  his  present  state ;  he  had  been  imagining  for 
himself  another  sort  of  existence — but  always  with  her  as  the 
central  figure  of  those  fancied  realms ;  he  had  been  dreaming 
dreams — of  which  she  had  invariably  formed  part.  And  now 
he  had  been  awakened  (somewhat  abruptly,  perhaps,  but  that 
may  have  been  his  own  fault)  ;  and  there  was  nothing  for  it  but 
to  summon  his  common-sense  to  his  aid,  and  to  assure  himself 
that  Honnor  Cunyngham,  at  least,  was  not  to  blame. 

And  yet  sometimes,  in  spite  of  himself,  as  he  smoked  a  final 
cigarette  at  midnight  in  those  rooms  in  Piccadilly,  a  trace  of 
bitterness  would  come  into  his  reveries. 

"  I  have  been  taught  my  place,  that's  all,"  he  would  say  to 
himself.  "  Maurice  was  right — I  had  forgotten  my  catechism. 
I  wanted  to  play  the  gardener's  son,  or  Mordaunt  to  Lady  Mabel ; 
and  I  can't  write  poetry,  and  Fm  not  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
I  suppose  my  liead  was  a  little  bewildered  by  the  kindness  and 


PRINCE    FOHXrNATUS.  ^95 

condescension  of  those  excellent  people.  They  are  glad  to  wel- 
come you  into  their  rooms — you  are  a  sort  of  curiosity — you 
sing  for  them — they're  very  civil  for  an  hour  or  two — but  you 
must  remember  to  leave  before  the  footmen  proceed  to  shut  the 
hall-door.  Well,  what's  to  be  done  ?  Am  I  to  rush  away  to  the 
wars,  and  come  back  a  field-marshal  ?  Am  I  to  make  myself  so 
obnoxious  in  Parliament  that  the  noble  earl  will  give  me  his 
daughter  in  order  to  shut  my  mouth  ?  Oh,  no ;  they  simplify 
matters  nowadays  ;  '  as  you  were  '  is  the  word  of  command  ;  go 
back  to  the  theatre  ;  paint  your  face  and  put  on  your  finery  ; 
play  the  fool  along  with  the  rest  of  the  comic  people,  and  we'll 
come  and  look  at  you  from  the  stalls ;  an^  if  you  will  marry, 
why,  then,  keep  in  your  own  sphere,  and  marry  Kate  Burgoyne  !" 

For  now — when  he  was  peevish  and  discontented  and  rest- 
less, or  even  sick  at  heart,  he  hardly  knew  why — there  was  no 
Nina  to  solace  and  soothe  him  with  her  gentle  companionship, 
her  wise  counsel,  her  bright  and  cheerful  and  wayward  good- 
humor.  Apparently  he  had  as  many  friends  and  acquaintances 
as  before,  and  yet  he  was  haunted  by  a  curious  sense  of  soli- 
tude. Of  a  morning  he  would  go  out  for  a  stroll  along  the 
familiar  thoroughfares  —  Bond  Street,  Conduit  Street,  Regent 
Street,  where  he  knew  all  the  shops  at  which  Nina  used  to  lin- 
ger for  a  moment,  to  glance  at  a  picture  or  a  bonnet — and  these 
seemed  altogether  different  now.  He  could  not  have  imagined 
he  should  have  missed  Nina  so  much.  Instead  of  dining  in  his 
rooms  at  five  o'clock  and  thereafter  walking  down  to  Sloane 
Street  to  have  a  cup  of  tea  with  Nina  and  Mile.  Girond  before 
they  all  three  set  out  for  the  theatre,  he  spent  most  of  his  after- 
noons at  the  Garden  Club,  where  there  was  a  good  deal  of  the 
game  of  poker  being  played  by  young  gentlemen  in  the  up- 
stairs rooms.  And  sometimes  he  returned  thither  after  the  per- 
formance, seeking  anew  the  distraction  of  card-playing  and  bet- 
ting, until  he  became  notorious  as  the  fiercest  plunger  in  the 
place.  Nobody  could  "  bluff  "  Lionel  Moore  ;  he  would  "  call  " 
his  opponent  if  he  himself  had  nothing  better  than  a  pair  of 
twos  ;  and  many  a  solid  handful  of  sovereigns  he  had  to  pay  for 
that  privilege  of  gazing. 

Day  after  day  went  by,  and  still  there  was  no  word  of  Nina ; 
at  times  he  was  visited  by  sudden  sharp  misgivings  that  terri- 
fied him.     The  heading  of  a  paragraph  in  a  newspaper  would 


396  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

startle  his  eyes ;  and  then  he  would  breathe  again  when  he  found 
that  this  poor  wretch  who  had  grown  weary  of  the  world  was 
unknown  to  him.  Every  evening,  when  Mile.  Girond  came  into 
the  theatre,  she  was  met  by  the  same  anxious,  wondering  ques- 
tion ;  and  her  reply  was  invariably  the  same. 

"  Don't  you  think  it  very  strange  ?"  he  asked  of  Estelle. 
"  Nina  said  she  would  write  to  you  or  send  you  a  message — I 
suppose  as  soon  as  all  her  plans  were  made.  I  hope  nothing 
has  happened  to  her,"  he  added,  as  a  kind  of  timid  expression 
of  his  own  darker  self-questionings. 

"Something  —  something  terrible?"  said  Estelle,  "  Ah,  no. 
We  should  hear.  No;  Nina  will  make  sure  we  cannot  reach 
her — that  she  is  not  to  be  seen  by  you  or  me — then  perhaps  I 
have  a  message.  Oh,  she  is  very  proud ;  she  will  make  sure  ; 
the  pain  in  her  heart,  she  will  hide  it  and  hide  it — until  some 
time  goes,  and  she  can  hold  up  her  head,  with  a  brave  face. 
Poor  Nina ! — she  will  suffer — for  she  will  not  speak,  no,  not  to 
any  one." 

"  But  look  here.  Miss  Girond,"  he  exclaimed,  "if  she  has  gone 
back  to  her  friends  in  Italy,  that's  all  right ;  but  if  she  is  in  this 
country,  without  any  occupation,  her  money  will  soon  be  ex- 
hausted— she  can't  have  had  so  very  much.  What  will  become 
of  her  then  ?  Don't  you  think  I  should  put  an  advertisement  in 
the  papers — not  in  my  name,  but  in  yours — your  initials — beg- 
ging her  at  least  to  let  you  know  where  she  is  ?" 

Estelle  shook  her  head. 

"  No,  it  is  useless.  Perhaps  I  understand  Nina  a  little  better 
than  you,  though  you  know  her  longer.  She  is  gentle  and  af- 
fectionate and  very  grateful  to  her  friends  ;  but  under  that 
there  is  firmness — oh,  yes.  She  has  firmness  of  mind,  although 
she  is  so  loving ;  when  she  has  decided  to  go  away  and  remain, 
you  will  not  draw  her  back,  no,  not  at  alll  She  will  remain 
where  she  wishes  to  be  ;  perhaps  she  decides  never  to  sec  any 
of  us  again.  Well,  well,  it  is  pitiable,  but  for  us  to  interfere, 
that  is  useless." 

"  Oh,  I  am  not  so  sure  of  that,"  he  said.  "  As  you  say,  I 
have  known  Nina  longer  than  you  have  ;  if  I  could  only  learn 
where  she  is,  1  an^  quite  sure  that  I  could  persuade  her  to  come 
back." 

"  Very  well — try  !"  said  Estelle,  throwing  out  both  hands.    "  1 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  ^7 

say  uo — that  she  will  not  say  where  she  is.  And  your  London 
papers,  how  will  they  find  her?  Perhaps  she  is  in  a  small  Eng- 
lish village — perhaps  in  I*aris — perhaps  in  Naples — perhaps  in 
Malta.  For  me,  no.  She  said, '  If  you  are  my  friend,  you  will 
not  seek  to  discover  where  I  have  gone.'  I  am  her  friend ;  I 
obey  her  wish.  When  she  thinks  it  is  right,  she  will  send  me  a 
message.     Until  then,  I  wait." 

But  if  Nina  had  gone  away — depriving  him  of  her  pleasant 
companionship,  her  quick  sympathy,  her  grave  and  almost  ma- 
tron-like remonstrances — there  was  another  quite  ready  to  take 
her  place.  Miss  Burgoyne  did  not  at  all  appear  to  regret  the 
disappearance  from  the  theatre  of  Antonia  Rossi.  She  was 
kinder  to  this  young  man  than  ever ;  she  showered  her  experi- 
enced blandishments  upon  him,  even  when  she  rallied  him  about 
his  gloomy  looks  or  listless  demeanor.  All  the  time  he  was  not 
on  the  stage,  and  not  engaged  in  dressing,  he  usually  spent  in 
her  sitting-room ;  there  were  cigarettes  and  lemonade  awaiting 
him ;  and  when  she  herself  could  not  appear,  at  all  events  she 
could  carry  on  a  sort  of  conversation  with  him  from  the  inner 
sanctuary ;  and  often  she  would  come  out  and  finish  her  make- 
up before  the  large  mirror  while  she  talked  to  him. 

"  They  tell  me  you  gamble,"  she  said  to  him  on  one  occasion, 
in  her  blunt  way. 

"  Not  much,"  he  said. 

"  What  good  do  you  get  out  of  it  ?"  she  asked  again. 

"  Oh,  well,  it  is  a  sort  of  distraction.  It  keeps  people  from 
thinking. 

"  And  what  have  you  to  think  about?"  continued  Grace  Main- 
waring,  regarding  herself  in  the  glass.  "  What  dreadful  crimes 
have  you  to  forget  ?  You  want  to  drown  remorse,  do  you  ?  I 
dare  say  you  ought ;  but  I  don't  believe  it  all  the  same.  You 
men  don't  care  what  you  do,  and  poor  girls'  hearts  get  broken. 
But  gambling !  Well,  I  imagine  most  men  have  one  vice  or  an- 
other, but  gambling  has  always  seemed  to  me  the  stupidest 
thing  one  could  take  to.  Drink  kills  you,  but  I  suppose  you 
get  some  fun  out  of  it.  What  fun  do  you  get  out  of  gam- 
bling? Too  serious,  isn't  it?  And  then  the  waste  of  money. 
The  fact  is,  you  want  somebody  to  take  care  of  you.  Master 
Lionel ;  and  a  fine  job  she'll  have  of  it,  whoever  undertakes 
it !" 


298  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

'*  Why  should  it  be  a  she,"  he  asked,  "  assuming  that  1  am 
incapable  of  managing  my  own  affairs  ?" 

"  Because  it  is  the  way  of  the  world,"  she  answered,  prompt- 
ly. "And  you,  of  all  people,  need  somebody  to  look  after  you. 
Why  should  you  have  to  take  to  gambling,  at  your  time  of  life  ? 
You're  not  shamming  ennui,  are  you,  to  imitate  your  swell  ac- 
quaintances ?  Ennui !  I  could  cure  their  ennui  for  them,  if 
they'd  only  come  to  me/"  she  added,  somewhat  scornfully. 

"  A  cure  for  ennui  f  he  said.  "  That  would  be  valuable ; 
what  is  it?" 

"  I'd  tell  them  to  light  a  wax  match  and  put  it  up  their  nos- 
tril and  hold  it  there  till  it  went  out,"  she  answered,  with  some 
sharpness. 

"  It  would  make  them  jump,  anyway,  wouldn't  it  ?"  he  said, 
listlessly. 

"  It  would  give  them  something  to  claim  their  very  earnest 
attention  for  at  least  a  fortnight,"  Miss  Burgoyne  observed,  with 
decision ;  and  then  she  had  to  ask  him  to  open  the  door,  for  it 
was  time  for  her  to  get  up  to  the  wings. 

Christmas  was  now  close  at  hand,  and  one  evening  when 
Harry  Thornhill,  attired  in  his  laced  coat  and  ruffles,  silken 
stockings  and  buckled  shoes,  went  as  usual  into  Miss  Burgoyne's 
room,  he  perceived  that  she  had,  somewhere  or  other,  obtained  a 
piece  of  mistletoe,  which  she  had  placed  on  the  top  of  the 
piano.  As  soon  as  Grace  Mainwaring  knew  he  was  there,  she 
came  forth  from  the  dressing-room  and  went  to  the  big  mirror, 
kicking  out  her  resplendent  train  of  flounced  white  satin  behind 
her,  and  proceeding  to  judge  of  the  general  effect  of  her  powder 
and  patches  and  heavily -pencilled  eyebrows. 

"  Where  are  you  going  for  Christmas  ?"  she  asked. 

"  Into  the  country,"  he  answered. 

"  That's  no  good,"  said  the  brilliant-eyed  white  little  bride, 
still  contemplating  herself  in  the  glass,  and  giving  a  finishing 
touch  here  and  there.  "  The  country's  too  horrid  at  this  time 
of  year.  We  are  going  to  Brighton,  some  friends  and  I,  a 
rather  biggish  party  ;  and  a  whole  heap  of  rooms  have  been 
taken  at  a  hotcF.  That  will  be  fun,  I  promise  you.  A  dance 
in  the  evening.  You'd  better  come ;  I  can  get  you  an  invita- 
tion." 

"  Thanks,  I  couldn't  very  well.      I  am  going  to  play  the  good 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  299 

boy,  and  pass  one  night  under  the  parental  roof.  It  isn't  often 
I  get  the  chance." 

"  I  wish  you  would  tell  me  where  to  hang  up  that  piece  of 
mistletoe,"  she  said,  presently. 

"  I  know  where  I  should  like  to  hang  it  up,"  he  made  answer, 
with  a  sort  of  lazy  impertinence. 

"  Where  ?" 

"  Just  over  your  head." 

"  Why  ?" 

"  You  would  see." 

She  made  a  little  grimace. 

"  Oh,  no,  I  shouldn't  see  anything  of  the  kind,"  she  retorted, 
confidently.  "  I  should  see  nothing  of  the  kind.  You  haven't 
acquired  the  right,  young  gentleman.  On  the  stage  Harry 
Thornhill  may  claim  his  privileges — or  make  believe ;  but  off 
the  stage  he  must  keep  his  distance." 

That  significant  phrase  about  his  not  having  acquired  the  right 
was  almost  a  challenge.  And  why  should  he  not  say,  "  Well, 
give  me  the  right !"  What  did  it  matter  ?  It  was  of  little  con- 
cern what  happened  to  him.  As  he  lay  back  in  his  chair  and 
looked  at  her,  he  guessed  what  she  would  do.  He  imagined  the 
pretty  little  performance.  "  Well,  give  me  the  right,  then !" 
Miss  Burgoyne  turns  round  from  the  mirror.  "  Lionel,  what  do 
you  mean  ?" 

"  You  know  what  I  mean :  let  us  be  engaged  lovers  off  the 
stage  as  well  as  on."  She  hangs  down  her  head.  He  goes  to 
her  and  kisses  her — without  any  mistletoe ;  she  murmurs  some 
doubt  and  hesitation,  in  her  maiden  shyness ;  he  laughingly  re- 
assures her ;  it  is  all  over,  in  half  a  dozen  seconds.  And  then  ? 
Why,  then  he  has  secured  for  himself  a  sufiiciently  good-natured 
life-companion ;  it  will  be  convenient  in  many  ways,  especially 
when  they  are  engaged  at  the  same  theatre ;  he  will  marry  in 
his  own  sphere,  and  everybody  be  satisfied.  If  he  has  to  give 
up  his  bachelor  ways  and  .habits,  she  will  probably  look  after 
a  little  establishment  as  well  as  another ;  where  there  is  no 
frantic  passion  on  either  side,  there  will  be  no  frantic  jeal- 
ousy ;  and,  after  all,  what  is  better  than  peace  and  quiet  and 
content  ? 

Was  he  too  indolent,  then,  to  accept  this  future  that  seemed 
to  be  offered  to  him  ? 


300  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  Isn't  it  rather  odd  to  go  to  a  Brigliton  hotel  for  Christmas  ?" 
he  said,  at  random. 

"  It's  the  swagger  thing  to  do,  don't  you  know  ?"  said  Miss 
Burgoyne,  whose  phraseology  sometimes  made  him  wince.  "  It's 
the  latest  fad  among  people  who  have  no  formal  family  ties.  I 
can  imagine  it  will  be  the  jolliest  thing  possible.  Instead  of 
the  big  family  gathering,  where  half  the  relations  hate  the  sight 
of  the  other  half,  you  have  all  nice  people,  picked  friends  and 
acquaintances ;  and  you  go  away  down  to  a  place  where  you 
can  have  your  choice  of  rooms,  where  you  have  every  freedom 
and  no  responsibility,  where  you  can  have  everything  you  want 
and  no  trouble  in  getting  it.  Instead  of  foggy  London,  the  sea ; 
and  at  night,  instead  of  Sir  Roger  de  Coverley  with  a  lot  of  hob- 
bledehoys, you  have  a  charming  little  dance,  on  a  good  floor, 
with  capital  partners.  Come,  Master  Lionel,  change  your  mind  ; 
and  you  and  I  will  go  down  together  on  Christmas  morning  in 
the  Pullman.  Most  of  the  others  are  there  already ;  it's  only 
one  or  two  poor  professionals  who  will  have  to  go  down  on 
Christmas-day." 

But  Lionel  shook  his  head. 

"Duty — duty,"  he  murmured. 

"  Duty  !"  said  she,  contemptuously.  "  Duty  is  a  thing  you 
owe  to  other  people,  which  no  one  ever  thinks  of  paying  to 
you."  And  therewith  this  profound  moralist  and  epigrammatist 
tucked  up  her  white  satin  train  and  waited  for  him  to  open  the 
door,  so  that  she  might  make  her  way  to  the  stage,  he  humbly 
following. 

On  the  Christmas  morning  the  display  of  parcels,  packets,  and 
envelopes,  large  and  small,  spread  out  on  the  side-table  in  his 
sitting-room  was  simply  portentous ;  for  the  fashionable  world 
of  London  had  had  no  intimation  yet  that  their  favorite  singer 
was  ill-disposed  towards  them,  and  had  even  at  times  formed 
sullen  resolutions  of  withdrawing  altogether  from  their  brilliant 
rooms.  As  he  quite  indifferently  turned  the  packages  and  let- 
ters over,  trying  to  guess  at  the  name  of  the  sender  by  the  ad- 
dress, he  said  to  himself, 

"  They  toss  you  those  things  out  of  their  bounty  as  they  fling 
a  shilling  to  a  crossing-sweeper  because  it  is  Christmas-day." 

liiit  here  was  one  that  he  opened,  recognizing  the  handwriting 
of  his  cousin  Francie  ;  and  Francie  had  sent  him  a  very  pretty 


PRINCE    FOKTUNATUS.  301 

pair  of  blue  velvet  slippers,  with  his  initials  worked  by  herself 
in  thread  of  gold.  That  was  all  right,  for  he  had  got  for  Miss 
Francie  a  little  present  tliat  he  was  about  to  take  down  with  him 
— a  hand-bag  in  green  lizard-skin  that  might  be  useful  to  her 
when  she  was  going  on  her  numerous  errands.  It  was  different 
with  the  next  packet  he  opened  (also  recognizing  the  writing),  for 
this  was  a  paper-weight — an  oblong  slab  of  crystal  set  in  silver, 
with  a  photograph  of  the  sender  showing  through,  and  the  in- 
scription at  the  foot,  "  To  Lionel  Moore,  from  his  sincere  friend, 
K.  B."  And  he  had  never  thought  of  getting  anything  for  Miss 
Burgoyne  !  Well,  it  was  too  late  now  ;  he  would  have  to  atone 
for  his  neglect  of  her  when  he  returned  to  town.  Meanwhile  he 
recollected  that  just  about  now  she  would  be  getting  down  to 
Victoria  station  en  route  to  Brighton ;  and,  indeed,  had  it  not 
been  for  the  duty  he  owed  the  old  people,  he  would  have  been 
well  content  to  be  going  with  her.  The  last  time  he  had  been 
in  a  Pullman  car  on  the  way  to  Brighton  it  was  with  other 
friends — or  acquaintances ;  he  knew  his  place  now,  and  was  re- 
signed. So  he  continued  opening  these  parcels  and  envelopes 
carelessly  and  somewhat  ungratefully,  merely  glancing  at  the 
various  messages,  until  it  was  time  to  bethink  him  of  setting 
forth. 

But  first  of  all,  when  the  cab  had  been  summoned  and  his 
portmanteau  put  on  the  top,  he  told  the  man  to  drive  to  a  cer- 
tain number  in  Sloane  Street ;  he  thought  he  would  call  for  a 
minute  on  Mrs.  Grey  and  Miss  Girond  and  wish  them  a  pleas- 
ant Christmas.  Estelle,  when  she  made  her  appearance,  knew 
better  what  had  brought  him  hither. 

"  Ah,  it  is  so  kind  of  you  to  send  me  the  pretty  work-case — 
thank  you,  thank  you  very  much ;  and  Mrs.  Grey  is  so  proud  of 
the  beautiful  lamp — she  will  tell  you  in  a  moment  when  she 
comes  in.  And  if  there  is  something  we  might  have  liked  bet- 
ter—  pardon,  it  is  no  disfavor  to  the  pretty  presents,  not  at 
all — it  is  what  you  would  like,  too,  I  am  sure — it  is  a  message 
from  Nina.  Yes,  I  expected  it  a  little — I  was  awake  hour  after 
hour  this  morning — when  the  postman  came  I  ran  down  the 
stairs — no  !  no  word  of  any  kind." 

He  stood  silent  for  a  minute. 

"  I  confess  I  had  some  kind  of  fancy  she  might  wish  to  send 
you  just  a  line  or  a  card — any  sort  of  reminder  of  her  existence 


303  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

— on  Cbristraas-day ;  for  she  knows  the  English  custom,"  he 
said,  rather  absently.  "  And  there  is  nothing — nothing  of  any 
kind,  you  say.     Well,  I  have  written  to  Pandiani." 

"  Ah,  the  viaestro  ? — yes  ?" 

"  You  see,  I  knew  it  was  no  use  writing  to  her  friends,"  he 
continued,  "  foi*,  if  she  were  with  them,  she  would  tell  them  not 
to  answer.  But  it  is  different  with  Pandiani.  If  she  has  got 
any  musical  engagement  in  Naples,  or  if  she  has  gone  to  Malta, 
he  would  know.  It  seems  hard  that  at  Christmas-time  we  should 
he  unable  to  send  a  message  to  Nina." 

"  Perhaps  she  is  sure  that  we  think  of  her,"  Estelle  said,  rather 
sadly.  "  I  did  not  know  till  she  was  gone  that  I  loved  her  so 
much  and  would  miss  her  so  much ;  because  sometimes — some- 
times she  reproved  me — and  we  had  little  disagreements — but 
all  the  same  she  was  so  kind — and  always  it  was  for  your  opin- 
ion I  was  corrected — it  was  what  you  would  think  if  I  did  this 
or  that.  Ah,  well,  Nina  will  take  her  own  time  before  she  al- 
lows us  to  know.     Perhaps  she  is  not  very  happy." 

Nor  had  Mrs.  Grey  any  more  helpful  counsel  or  conjecture  to 
offer  ;  so,  i-ather  downheartedly,  he  got  into  the  hansom  again 
and  set  out  for  Victoria  station,  where  he  was  to  meet  Maurice 
Mangan. 

Maurice  he  found  in  charge  of  a  bewildering  number  of  vari- 
ously sized  packages,  which  seemed  to  cause  him  some  anxiety, 
for  there  was  no  sort  of  proper  cohesion  among  them. 

"  Toys  for  Francie's  children,  I'll  bet,"  said  Lionel. 

"  Well,  how  otherwise  could  I  show  my  gratitude  ?"  Mangan 
said.  "  You  know  it's  awfully  good  of  your  people,  Linn,  to 
ask  a  poor,  solitary  devil  like  mc  to  join  their  Christmas  family 
party.     It's  almost  too  much — " 

"  I  should  think  they  were  precious  glad  to  get  you  !"  Lionel 
made  answer,  as  he  and  his  friend  took  their  scats  in  one  of  the 
carriages. 

"  And  I've  got  a  little  present  for  Miss  Francie  herself,"  con- 
tinued Mangan,  opening  his  bag,  and  taking  therefrom  a  small 
packet.  He  carefully  undid  the  tissue-paper  wrappers,  until  he 
could  show  his  companion  what  they  contained  ;  it  was  a  copy 
of  "  Aurora  Leigh,"  bound  in  white  vellum,  and  on  the  cover 
were  stamped  two  tiny  violets,  green -stemmed  and  purple- 
blossomed. 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  303 

'* '  Aurora  Leigh,'  "  said  Lionel — not  daring,  however,  to  take 
the  dainty  vohimc  in  his  hands.  "That  will  just  suit  Miss  Sa- 
vonarola. And  what  are  the  two  violets,  Maurice — what  do  they 
mean  ?" 

"Oh,  that  was  merely  a  little  device  of  my  own,"  Mangan 
said,  evasively. 

"  You  don't  mean  to  say  that  these  are  your  handiwork  ?" 
Lionel  asked,  looking  a  little  closer. 

"  Oh,  no.  I  merely  drew  them,  and  the  binder  had  them 
stamped  m  color  for  me." 

"  And  what  did  that  cost  ?" 

"  I  don't  know  yet." 

"  And  don't  care — so  long  as  it's  for  Francie.  And  yet  you 
are  always  lecturing  me  on  my  extravagance  !" 

"  Oh,  well,  it's  Christmas-time,"  Mangan  said ;  "  and  I  con- 
fess I  like  Christmas  and  all  its  ways.  I  do.  I  seem  to  feel 
the  general  excitement  throughout  the  country  tingling  in  me 
too ;  I  like  to  see  the  children  eagerly  delighted,  and  the  houses 
decorated  with  evergreens,  and  the  old  folk  pleased  and  happy 
with  the  enthusiasm  of  the  youngsters.  If  I've  got  to  drink  an 
extra  glass  of  port,  I'm  there ;  if  it's  Sir  Roger  de  Coverley,  I'm 
there  ;  I'll  do  anything  to  add  to  the  general  Schwdrmerei.  What 
the  modern  litterateur  thinks  it  fine  to  write  about  Christmas 
being  all  sham  sentiment  is  simply  insufferable  bosh.  Christ- 
mas isn't  in  the  least  bit  played  out — though  the  magazinist 
may  be,  or  may  pretend  to  be.  I  think  it's  a  grand  thing  to 
have  a  season  for  sending  good  wishes,  for  recollection  of  ab- 
sent friends,  for  letting  the  young  folk  kick  up  their  heels.  I 
say,  Linn,  I  hope  there's  going  to  be  some  sunlight  down  there. 
I  am  longing  to  see  a  holly-tree  in  the  open  air — the  green  leaves 
and  scarlet  berries  glittering  in  the  sunlight.  Oh,  I  can  tell  you 
an  autumn  session  of  Parliament  is  a  sickening  thing — when  the 
interminable  speeches  and  wranglings  drag  on  and  on  until  you 
think  they're  going  to  tumble  over  into  Christmas-day  itself. 
There's  fog  in  your  brain  as  well  as  in  your  throat,  and  you 
seem  to  forget  there  ever  was  an  outer  world ;  you  get  listless 
and  resigned,  and  think  you've  lived  all  your  life  in  darkness. 
Well,  just  a  glimmer  of  sunshine,  that's  all  I  bargain  for — just 
a  faint  glimmer — and  a  sight  of  the  two  holly-trees  by  the  gate 
of  the  doctor's  house." 


304  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

What  intoxication  had  got  into  the  head  of  this  man  ?  Whither 
had  fled  his  accustomed  indifference  and  indolence,  his  sardonic 
self-criticism?  He  was  like  a  school-boy  off  for  the  holidays. 
He  kept  looking  out  of  the  window — with  persistent  hope  of  the 
gray  sky  clearing.  He  was  impatient  of  the  delay  at  the  vari- 
ous stations.  And  when  at  length  they  got  out  and  found  the 
doctor's  trap  awaiting  them,  and  proceeded  to  get  up  the  long 
and  gradual  incline  that  leads  to  Winstead  village,  he  observed 
that  the  fat  old  pony,  if  he  were  lent  for  a  fortnight  to  a  butcher, 
would  find  it  necessary  to  improve  his  pace. 

"WTien  they  reached  the  doctor's  house  and  entered,  they 
found  that  only  the  old  lady  was  at  home ;  the  doctor  had  gone 
to  visit  a  patient ;  Miss  Francie  was,  as  usual,  away  among  her 
young  convalescents. 

"  It  has  been  a  busy  time  for  Francie,"  Mrs.  Moore  said. 
"  She  has  been  making  so  many  different  things  for  them.  And 
I  don't  like  to  hear  her  sewing-machine  going  so  late  at  night." 

"  Then  why  do  you  let  her  do  it  ?"  Lionel  said,  in  his  im- 
petuous way.  "  Why  don't  you  get  in  somebody  to  help  her  ? 
Look  here,  Fll  pay  for  that.  You  call  in  a  seamstress  to  do  all 
that  sewing,  and  I'll  give  her  a  sovereign  a  week.  Why  should 
Francie  have  her  eyes  ruined  ?" 

"  Lionel  is  like  the  British  government,  Mrs.  Moore,"  Mangan 
said,  with  a  smile.  "  He  thinks  he  can  get  over  every  difficulty 
by  pulling  out  his  purse.  But  perhaps  Miss  Francie  might  pre- 
fer carrying  out  her  charitable  work  herself." 

So  Maurice  Mangan  was  arrogating  to  himself,  was  he,  the 
right  of  guessing  Francie's  preferences?" 

"  Well,  mother,  tell  me  where  I  am  likely  to  find  her.  I  am 
going  to  pull  her  out  of  those  fevcr-dcns  and  refuges  for  crip- 
ples. Why,  she  ought  to  know  that's  all  exploded  now.  Slum- 
ming, as  a  fad,  had  its  day,  but  it's  quite  gone  out  now — " 

"  Do  you  think  it  is  because  it  is  fashionable,  or  was  fashion- 
able, that  Miss  Francie  takes  an  interest  in  those  poor  children  ?" 
Maurice  asked,  gently. 

Lionel  was  nearly  telling  him  to  mind  his  own  business ;  why 
should  he  step  in  to  defend  Cousin  Francie  ? 

"  She  said  she  was  going  across  the  common  to  old  Widow 
Jackson's,"  his  mother  answered  him,  "and  you  may  find  her 
cither  there  or  on  the  way  to  the  village." 


PHINCE    FORTUNATUS.  305 

"  Widow  Jackson's  ?"  he  repeated,  in  doubt. 

"  Oh,  I  know  it,"  Mangan  said,  cheerfully.  And  again  Lionel 
was  somewhat  astonished.  How  had  Maurice  Mangan  acquired 
this  particular  knowledge  of  Francie's  surroundings  ?  Perhaj)s 
his  attendance  at  the  House  of  Commons  had  not  been  so  unin- 
termittent  as  he  had  intimated  ? 

There  were  still  further  surprises  in  store  for  Master  Lionel. 
When  at  length  they  encountered  Miss  Francie — how  pretty  she 
looked  as  she  came  along  the  pathway  through  the  gorse,  in  her 
simple  costume  of  dark  gray,  with  a  brown  velvet  hat  and  brown 
tan  gloves ! — it  was  in  vain  that  he  tried  to  dissuade  her  from 
giving  up  the  rest  of  the  afternoon  to  her  small  proteges.  In 
the  most  natural  way  in  the  world  she  turned  to  Maurice  Man- 
gan— and  her  eyes  sought  his  in  a  curiously  straightforward, 
confiding  fashion  that  caused  Lionel  to  wonder. 

"  On  Christmas-day,  of  all  the  days  of  the  year  !"  she  said,  as 
if  appealing  to  Maurice.  "  Surely,  surely,  I  must  give  up  Christ- 
mas-day to  them !  Oh,  do  you  know,  Mr.  Mangan,  there  never 
was  a  happier  present  than  you  thought  of  for  the  little  blind 
boy  who  got  his  leg  broken — you  remember  ?  He  learned  al- 
most directly  how  to  do  the  puzzle ;  and  he  gets  the  ring  off  so 
quickly  that  no  one  can  see  how  it  is  done ;  and  he  laughs  with 
delight  when  he  finds  that  any  neighbor  coming  in  can  only 
growl  and  grumble — and  fail.  I'm  going  there  just  now  ;  won't 
you  come  ?  And  mind  you  be  very  angi-y  when  you  can't  get 
the  ring  off ;  you  may  use  any  language  you  like  about  your 
clumsiness — poor  little  chap,  he  has  heard  plenty  of  that  in  his 
time." 

Maurice  needed  no  second  invitation ;  this  was  what  he  had 
come  for ;  he  had  found  the  sunlight  to  lighten  up  the  Christ- 
mas-day withal ;  his  face,  that  was  almost  beautiful  in  its  fine 
intellectuality,  showed  that  whenever  she  spoke  to  him.  Lionel, 
of  course,  went  with  them. 

And  again  it  was  Maurice  Mangan  whom  Miss  Francie  ad- 
dressed, as  they  walked  along  to  the  village. 

"  Do  you  know,  in  all  this  blessed  place,  I  can't  find  a  copy 
of  Mrs.  Hemans's  poems ;  and  I  wanted  you  to  read  '  The  Arab 
to  his  Horse ' — is  that  the  title  ? — at  my  school-treat  to-morrow. 
They  would  all  understand  that.  Well,  we  must  get  something 
else ;  for  we're  to  make  a  show  of  being  educational  and  in- 


306  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

structive  before  the  romping  begins.  I  think  the  '  Highland 
Schottische'  is  the  best  of  any  for  children  who  haven't  learned 
dancing ;  they  can  all  jump  about  somehow — and  the  music  is 
inspiriting.  The  vicar's  daughters  are  coming  to  hammer  at 
the  piano.  Oh,  Mr.  Mangan,"  she  continued,  still  appealing  to 
him,  "  do  youthink  you  could  tell  them  a  thrilling  folk-story  ? — 
wouldn't  that  be  better  ?" 

"  Don't  you  want  me  to  do  something,  Francie  ?"  said  Lionel, 
perhaps  a  little  hurt. 

"  Do  you  mean — " 

"  The  only  thing  I'm  fit  for — I'll  sing  them  a  song,  if  you 
like.  'My  Pretty  Jane' — no,  that  would  hardly  do — 'The 
Death  of  Nelson'  or  'Rule  Britannia' — " 

"  Wouldn't  there  be  rather  a  risk,  Lionel  ?  If  you  were  to 
miss  your  train — and  disappoint  a  great  audience  in  London  ?" 
she  said,  gently. 

"  Oh,  I'll  take  my  chance  of  that ;  I'm  used  to  it,"  he  said, 
"  I'll  have  Dick  and  the  pony  waiting  outside.  Oh,  yes,  I'll 
sing  something  for  them." 

"  It  will  be  very  kind  of  you,"  she  said. 

And  again,  as  they  went  to  this  or  that  cottage,  to  see  that 
the  small  convalescent  folk  were  afforded  every  possible  means 
of  holding  high  holiday  (how  fortunate  they  were  as  compared 
with  thousands  of  similar  unfortunates,  shivering  away  the  hope- 
less hours  in  dingy  courts  and  alleys,  gin  clutching  at  every 
penny  that  might  have  got  food  for  their  empty  stomachs  or 
rags  for  their  poor  shrunken  limbs !),  it  was  to  Maurice  Mangan 
that  Francie  chiefly  talked,  and,  indeed,  he  seemed  to  know  all 
about  those  patient  little  sufferers,  and  the  time  they  had  been 
down  here,  and  when  they  might  have  to  be  sent  back  to  Lon- 
don to  make  way  for  their  successors.  There  was  also  a  ques- 
tion as  to  which  of  their  toys  they  might  be  permitted  to  cai'ry 
off  with  them. 

"  Oh,  I  wouldn't  deprive  them  of  one,"  Mangan  said,  distinct- 
ly.    "  I've  brought  down  a  heap  more  this  morning." 

"  Again  —  again  ?"  she  said,  almost  reproachfully  ;  but  the 
gentle  gray  eyes  looked  pleased,  notwithstanding. 

Well,  that  Christmas  evening  was  spent  in  the  doctor's  house 
with  much  quiet  enjoyment;  for  the  old  people  were  proud  to 
have  their  only  son  with  them  for  so  long  a  time ;  and  Francio 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  307 

seemed  glad  to  have  the  various  labors  of  the  day  over  ;  and 
Maurice  Mangan,  with  quite  unwonted  zest,  kept  the  talk  flow- 
ing free.  Next  morning  was  chiefly  devoted  to  preparations  for 
the  big  entertainment  to  be  given  in  the  school-room ;  and  in 
due  course  Lionel  redeemed  his  promise  by  singing  no  fewer 
than  four  songs — at  the  shyly  proffered  request  of  the  vicar's 
pretty  daughters ;  thereafter,  leaving  Maurice  to  conduct  the 
gay  proceedings  to  a  close,  he  got  out  and  jumped  into  the  trap 
and  was  driven  off  to  the  station.  He  arrived  at  the  New  The- 
atre in  plenty  of  time ;  the  odor  of  consumed  gas  was  almost  a 
shock  to  him,  well  as  he  was  used  to  it,  after  the  clear  air  of 
Winstead. 

And  did  he  grudge  or  envy  the  obvious  interest  and  confi- 
dence that  appeared  to  have  sprung  up  between  his  cousin  and 
his  friend  ?  Not  one  bit.  Maurice  had  always  had  a  higher 
appreciation  of  Francie  and  her  aims  and  ideals  than  he  himself 
had,  much  as  he  liked  her ;  and  it  was  but  natural  she  should 
turn  to  the  quarter  from  which  she  could  derive  most  sympathy 
and  practical  help.  And  if  Maurice's  long-proclaimed  admira- 
tion for  Miss  Savonarola  should  lead  to  a  still  closer  bond  be- 
tween those  two — what  then  ? 

It  was  not  jealousy  that  had  hold  of  Lionel  Moore's  heart  just 
at  this  time ;  it  was  rather  a  curious  unrest  that  seemed  to  in- 
crease as  day  by  day  went  by  without  bringing  any  word  of 
Nina.  Had  she  vouchsafed  the  smallest  message,  to  say  she 
was  safe  and  well,  to  give  him  some  notion  of  her  where- 
abouts, it  might  have  been  different ;  but  he  knew  not  which 
way  to  turn,  north,  south,  east,  or  west ;  at  this  season  of  kindly 
remembrance  he  could  summon  up  no  sort  of  picture  of  Nina 
and  her  surroundings.  If  only  he  had  known,  he  kept  repeating 
to  himself.  He  had  been  so  wrapped  up  in  his  idle  di'eams  and 
visions  that,  all  unwittingly,  he  had  spurned  and  crushed  this 
true  heart  beating  close  to  his  side.  And  as  for  making 
amends,  what  amends  could  now  be  made  ?  He  only  wanted  to 
know  that  Nina  was  alive — and  could  forgive. 

As  he  sat  by  himself  in  the  still  watches  of  the  night,  plunged 
in  silent  reverie,  strange  fancies  began  to  fill  his  brain.  He  re- 
called stories  in  which  he  had  read  of  persons  separated  by 
great  distances  communicating  with  each  other  by  some  species 
of  spiritual  telegraphy ;  and  a  conviction  took  possession  of 


308  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

him  that  now,  if  ever — now  as  the  old  year  was  about  to  go  out 
and  the  new  year  come  in — he  could  call  to  Nina  across  the  un- 
known void  that  lay  between  them,  and  that  she  would  hear  and 
perchance  respond.  Surely,  on  New-Year's  Eve,  Nina  would  be 
thinking  of  her  friends  in  London ;  and,  if  their  earnest  and 
anxious  thoughts  could  but  meet  her  half-way,  might  there  not 
be  some  sudden  understanding,  some  recognition,  some  glad  as- 
surance that  all  was  well  ?  This  wild  fancy  so  grew  upon  him 
that  when  the  last  day  of  the  year  arrived  it  had  become  a  fixed 
belief ;  and  yet  it  was  with  a  haunting  sense  of  dread — a  dread 
of  he  knew  not  what — that  he  looked  forward  to  the  stroke  of 
twelve. 

He  got  through  his  performance  that  night  as  if  he  were  in  a 
dream,  and  hurried  home ;  it  was  not  far  from  midnight  when 
he  arrived.  He  only  glanced  at  the  outside  of  the  letters  await- 
ing him  ,♦  there  was  no  one  from  her ;  not  in  that  way  was  Nina 
to  communicate  with  him,  if  her  hopes  for  the  future,  her  for- 
giveness for  what  lay  in  the  past,  were  to  reach  him  at  all.  He 
drew  a  chair  to  the  table  and  sat  down,  leaving  the  letters  un- 
heeded. 

The  slow  minutes  passed ;  his  thoughts  went  wandering  over 
the  world,  seeking  for  what  they  could  not  find.  And  how  was 
he  to  call  to  Nina  across  the  black  gulf  of  the  night,  whereso- 
ever she  might  be  ?  Suddenly  there  leaped  into  his  recollection 
an  old  German  ballad  he  used  to  sing.  It  was  that  of  the  three 
comrades  who  were  wont  to  drink  together,  until  one  died,  and  an- 
other died,  and  nevertheless  the  solitary  survivor  kept  the  accus- 
tomed tryst,  and  still,  sitting  there  alone,  he  had  the  three  glasses 
filled,  and  stiU  he  sang  aloud,  "  Aus  voller  Brust.''^  There  came 
an  evening;  as  he  filled  the  cups,  a  tear  fell  into  his  own  ;  yet 
bravely  he  called  to  his  ghostly  companions,  "  I  drink  to  you, 
my  brothers — but  why  are  you  so  mute  and  still  ?"  And  be- 
hold !  the  glasses  clinked  together ;  and  the  wine  was  slowly 
drunk  out  of  all  the  three.  '■'^  Fiducit !  du  wackerer  Zecher  P'' — 
it  was  the  loyal  comrade's  last  draught.  And  now  Lionel,  hard- 
ly knowing  what  he  was  doing — for  there  were  such  wild  de- 
sires and  longings  in  his  brain — went  to  a  small  cabinet  hard  by 
and  l)rought  forth  the  loving-cup  he  had  given  to  Nina.  They 
two  were  the  last  who  had  drunk  out  of  it.  And  if  now,  if  once 
again,  on  tliis  last  night  of  all  the  nights  of  the  year,  he  were  to 


PKINCE    FORTUNATUS.  309 

repeat  his  challenge,  would  she  not  know  ?  He  cared  not  in  what 
form  she  might  appear — Nina  could  not  be  other  than  gentle — 
silent  she  might  be,  but  surely  her  eyes  would  shine  with  kind- 
ness and  forgiveness.  He  was  not  aware  of  it,  but  his  fingers 
were  trembling  as  he  took  the  cup  in  twain,  and  put  the  two 
tiny  goblets  on  the  table  and  filled  them  with  wine.  Nay,  in  a 
sort  of  half-dazed  fashion  he  went  and  opened  the  door  and 
left  it  wide — might  there  not  be  some  shadowy  footfall  on 
the  empty  stair  ?  He  returned  to  the  table  and  sat  down ; 
it  was  almost  twelve ;  he  was  shivering  a  little — the  night  was 
cold. 

All  around  him  the  silence  appeared  to  grow  more  profound ; 
there  was  only  the  ticking  of  a  clock.  As  minute  after  minute 
passed,  the  suspense  became  almost  unendurable ;  something 
seemed  to  be  choking  him ;  and  yet  his  eyes  would  furtively 
and  nervously  wander  from  the  small  goblets  before  him  to  the 
open  door,  as  if  he  expected  some  vision  to  present  itself  there, 
from  whatsoever  distant  shore  it  might  come. 

The  clock  behind  him  struck  a  silver  note,  and  instantly  this 
vain  fantasy  vanished ;  what  was  the  use  of  regarding  the  two 
wine-filled  cups  when  he  knew  that  Nina  was  far  and  far  away  ? 
He  sprang  to  his  feet  and  went  to  the  window,  and  gazed  out 
into  the  black  and  formless  chaos  beyond. 

"  Nina  !"  he  called,  "  Nina ! — Nina  !"  as  if  he  would  pierce  the 
hollow  distance  with  this  passionate  cry. 

Alas !  how  could  Nina  answer  ?  At  this  moment,  over  all 
the  length  and  breadth  of  England,  innumerable  belfries  had 
suddenly  awakened  from  their  sleep,  and  ten  thousand  bells 
were  clanging  their  iron  tongues,  welcoming  in  the  new-found 
year.  Down  in  the  valleys,  where  white  mists  lay  along  the 
slumbering  rivers ;  far  up  on  lonely  moorlands,  under  the  clear 
stars ;  out  on  the  sea-coasts,  where  the  small  red  points  of  the 
windows  were  face-to-face  with  the  slow-moaning,  inarticulate 
main ;  everywhere,  over  all  the  land,  arose  this  clamor  of  joy- 
bells  ;  and  how  could  Nina  respond  to  his  appeal  ?  If  she  had 
heard,  if  she  had  tried  to  answer,  her  piteous  cry  was  swallowed 
up  and  lost;  heart  could  not  speak  to  heart,  whatever  message 
they  might  wish  to  send,  through  this  universal,  far-pulsating 
jangle  and  tumult. 

But  perhaps  she  had  not  heard  at  all  ?     Perhaps  there  was 


310  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

something  more  impassable  between  her  and  him  than  even  the 
wide,  dark  seas  and  the  night  ? 

He  turned  away  from  the  window.  He  went  back  to  the 
chair  ;  he  threw  his  arms  on  the  table  before  him — and  hid  his 
face. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

ENTRAPPED. 

There  were  two  young  gentlemen  standing  with  their  backs 
to  the  fire  in  the  supper-room  of  the  Garden  Club.  They  were 
rather  good-looking  young  men,  very  carefully  shaven  and  shorn, 
gray-eyed,  fair-moustached ;  and,  indeed,  they  were  so  extremely 
like  each  other  that  it  might  have  been  hard  to  distinguish  be- 
tween them  but  that  one  chewed  a  toothpick  and  the  other 
a  cigarette.  Both  were  in  evening  dress,  and  both  still  wore  the 
overcoat' and  crush-hat  in  which  they  had  come  into  the  club. 
They  could  talk  freely,  without  risk  of  being  overheard  ;  for  the 
members  along  there  at  the  supper-table  were  all  listening,  with 
much  laughter,  to  a  professional  entertainer,  who,  unlike  the 
proverbial  clown  released  from  the  pantomime,  was  never  so 
merry  and  amusing  as  when  diverting  a  select  little  circle  of 
friends  with  his  own  marvellous  adventures. 

"  It's  about  time  for  Lionel  Moore  to  make  his  appearance," 
said  one  of  the  two  companions,  glancing  at  the  clock, 

"  I  would  rather  have  anybody  else,  if  it  comes  to  that,"  said 
the  other,  peevishly.  "  Moore  spoils  the  game  all  to  bits.  You 
never  know  where  to  have  hira — " 

"  Yes,  that's  just  where  he  finds  his  salvation,"  continued  he 
of  the  toothpick.  "  Mind  you,  that  wild  play  has  its  advantages. 
He  gets  caught  now  and  again,  but  he  catches  you  at  times. 
You  make  sure  he  is  blufling,  you  raise  him  and  raise  him,  then 
you  call  him — and  find  he  has  three  aces !  And  I  will  say  this 
for  Moore — he's  a  capital  loser.  He  doesn't  seem  to  mind  los- 
ing a  bit,  so  long  as  you  keep  on.  You  would  think  he  was  a 
millionaire ;  only  a  millionaire  would  have  an  eye  on  every 
chip,  I  suppose.  What  salary  do  they  give  him  at  the  New 
Theatre  ?" 

"  Fifty  pounds  a  week,  I've  heard  say  ;  but  people  tell  such 


^^ 


PRINCE    FOKTUNATUS.  311 

lies.  Even  fifty  pounds  a  week  won't  hold  out  if  lie  goes  on 
like  that.  What  I  maintain  is  that  it  isn't  good  poker.  For 
one  thing,  I  object  to  '  straddling '  altogether ;  it's  simply  a 
stupid  way  of  raising  the  stakes ;  of  course,  the  straddler  has 
the  advantage  of  coming  in  last,  but  then  look  at  the  disadvan- 
tage of  having  to  bet  first.  No,  I  don't  object  to  betting  before 
the  draw ;  that's  sensible  ;  there's  some  skill  and  judgment  in 
that ;  but  straddling  is  simply  stupid.  You  ought  to  make  it 
easy  for  every  one  to  come  in  ;  that's  the  proper  game  ;  frighten 
them  out  afterwards  if  you  can."  And  then  he  added,  gloom- 
ily, "  That  fellow  Moore  is  a  regular  bull  in  a  china-shop." 

"  I  suspect  he  has  been  raking  over  a  few  of  your  chips, 
Bertie,"  his  companion  said,  with  a  placid  grin. 

Just  as  he  was  speaking,  Lionel  entered  the  room,  and,  hav- 
ing ordered  some  supper,  took  a  seat  at  the  table.  One  of  those 
young  gentlemen,  throwing  away  his  toothpick,  came  and  sat 
down  opposite  him. 

"  Big  house  to-night,  as  usual?"  he  asked, 

"  Full,"  was  the  answer.  "  I  dare  say  when  the  archangel 
blows  his  trump,  "  The  Squire's  Daughter  "  will  still  be  adver- 
tised in  the  bills  all  over  the  town.  I  don't  see  why  it  should 
stop  before  then." 

"It  would  be  a  sudden  change  for  the  company,  wouldn't  it?" 
the  young  man  on  the  other  side  of  the  table  said.  "  Fancy, 
now,  a  iTusic-hall  singer — no  disrespect  to  you,  Moore — I  mean 
a  music-hall  comic — fancy  his  finding  himself  all  at  once  in 
heaven  ;  don't  you  think  he'd  feel  deuced  awkward  ?  He 
wouldn't  be  quite  at  home,  would  he  ? — want  to  get  back  to  Mr. 
Chairman  and  the  chorus  in  the  gallery,  eh,  what? — 'pon  my 
soul,  it  would  make  a  capital  picture  if  you  could  get  a  fellow 
with  plenty  of  imagination  to  do  it — quite  tragic,  don't  you 
know — you'd  have  the  poor  devil's  face  just  full  of  misery — 
not  knowing  where  to  go  or  what  to  do — " 

"  The  British  public  would  be  inclined  to  rise  and  rend  that 
painter,"  said  Lionel,  carelessly  ;  this  young  man  was  useful  as 
a  poker-player,  but  otherwise  not  interesting. 

Two  or  three  members  now  came  in ;  and  by  the  time  Lionel 
had  finished  his  frugal  supper  there  was  a  chosen  band  of  five 
ready  to  go  up-stairs  and  set  to  work  with  the  cards.  There 
was  some  ordering  of  lemon-squashes  and  further  cigarettes ; 


313  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

new  packs  were  brought  by  tlie  waiter ;  the  players  took  their 
places ;  and  the  game  was  opened.  With  a  sixpenny  "  ante  " 
and  a  ten-shilling  "  limit,"  the  amusement  could  have  been  kept 
mild  enough  by  any  one  who  preferred  it  should  remain  so. 

But  the  usual  thing  happened.  Now  and  again  a  fierce  fight 
would  ensue  between  two  good  hands,  and  that  seemed  to  arouse 
a  spirit  of  general  emulation  and  eagerness  ;  the  play  grew 
more  bold ;  bets  apart  from  the  game  were  laid  by  individual 
players  between  themselves.  The  putting  up  of  the  "  ante  "  be- 
came a  mere  farce,  for  every  one  came  in  as  a  matter  of  course, 
even  if  he  had  to  draw  five  cards ;  and  already  the  piles  of  chips 
on  the  table  had  undergone  serious  diminution  or  augmentation 
— in  the  latter  case  there  was  a  glimmer  of  gold  among  the  bits 
of  ivory.  There  was  no  visible  excitement,  however ;  perhaps  a 
player  caught  blufiing  might  smile  a  little — that  was  all. 

Lionel  had  been  pretty  fortunate,  considering  his  wild  style  of 
play ;  but  then  his  very  recklessness  stood  him  in  good  stead 
when  he  chanced  to  have  a  fair  hand — his  reputation  for  bluff- 
ing leading  on  his  opponents.  And  then  an  extraordinary  bit 
of  luck  had  befallen  him.  On  this  occasion  the  first  hand  dealt 
him  contained  three  queens,  a  seven,  and  a  five.  To  make  the 
other  players  imagine  he  had  either  two  pairs  or  was  drawing  to  a 
flush,  he  threw  away  only  one  of  the  two  useless  cards — the  five, 
as  it  chanced  ;  but  his  satisfaction  (which  he  bravely  endeavored 
to  conceal)  may  be  imagined  when  he  found  that  the  single  card 
dealt  him  in  its  place  was  a  seven — he  therefore  had  a  full  hand  ! 
When  it  came  to  his  turn,  instead  of  beginning  cautiously,  as  an 
ordinary  player  would  have  done,  he  boldly  raised  the  bet  ten 
shillings.  But  that  frightened  nobody.  His  game  was  known  ; 
they  imagined  he  had  either  two  pairs  or  had  failed  to  fill  his 
flush  and  was  merely  bluffing.  When,  however,  there  was  anoth- 
er raise  of  ten  shillings  from  the  opposite  side  of  the  table,  that 
was  a  very  diiferent  matter ;  one  by  one  the  others  dropped  out, 
leaving  these  two  in.     And  then  it  went  on  : 

"Well,  I'll  just  see  your  ten  shillings  and  raise  you  another 
ten." 

"  And  another  ten." 

"  And  another  ten." 

"  And  another  ten." 

Of  course,  universal  attention  was  now  concentrated  on  this 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  313 

duel.  Probably  four  out  of  five  of  the  players  were  of  opinion 
that  Lionel  Moore  was  bluffing ;  that,  at  least,  was  certainly  the 
opinion  of  his  antagonist,  who  kept  raising  and  raising  without  a 
qualm.  At  length  both  of  thoni  had  to  borrow  money  to  go  on 
with ;  but  still  the  duel  continued,  and  still  the  pile  of  gold  and 
chips  in  the  middle  of  the  table  grew  and  increased. 

"  And  another  ten." 

"  And  another  ten." 

Not  a  word  of  encouragement  or  dissuasion  was  uttered  by 
any  one  of  the  onlookers ;  they  sat  silent  and  amused,  wonder- 
ing which  of  the  two  was  about  to  be  smitten  under  the  fifth 
rib.     And  at  last  it  was  Lionel's  opponent  who  gave  in. 

"  On  this  occasion,"  said  he,  depositing  his  half-sovereign,  "  I 
will  simply  gaze  ;  what  have  you  got  ?" 

"  Well,  I  have  got  a  full  hand,"  Lionel  answered,  putting  down 
his  hand  on  the  table. 

"That  is  good  enough,"  the  other  said,  stolidly.  "Take 
away  the  money." 

After  this  dire  combat,  the  game  fell  flat  a  little  ;  but  interest 
was  soon  revived  by  a  round  of  Jack-pots  ;  and  here  again  Lionel 
was  in  good  luck.  Indeed,  when  the  players  rose  from  the 
table  about  three  o'clock,  he  might  have  come  away  a  winner  of 
close  on  £40  had  not  some  reckless  person  called  out  something 
about  whiskey  poker.  Now  whiskey  poker  is  the  very  stupid- 
est form  of  gambling  that  the  mind  of  man  has  ever  conceived, 
though  at  the  end  of  the  evening  some  folk  hunger  after  it  as  a 
kind  of  final  fillip.  Each  person  puts  down  a  certain  sum — it 
may  be  a  sovereign,  it  may  be  five  sovereigns ;  poker  hands  are 
dealt  out,  the  cards  being  displayed  face  upwards  on  the  table ; 
there  is  no  drawing ;  whoever  has  the  best  hand  simply  annexes 
the  pool.  It  looks  like  a  game,  but  it  is  not  a  game  ;  it  is  mere- 
ly cutting  the  cards ;  but,  as  the  stakes  can  be  doubled  or  trebled 
each  round,  the  jaded  appetite  for  gambling  finds  here  a  potent 
and  fiery  stimulant  just  as  the  party  breaks  up.  Lionel  was  not 
anxious  to  get  away  with  the  money  he  had  won.  It  was  he 
wdio  proposed  to  increase  the  stakes  to  £10  from  each  player — 
which  the  rest  of  them,  to  their  credit  be  it  said,  refused  to  do. 
In  the  end,  when  they  went  to  get  their  hats  and  coats  before 
issuing  into  the  morning  air,  some  one  happened  to  ask  Lionel 
how  he  had  come  off  on  the  whole  night ;  and  he  replied  that 
14 


314  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

he  did  not  think  he  had  either  won  or  lost  anything  to  speak 
of.     He  hardly  knew.     Certainly  he  did  not  seem  to  care. 

The  dawn  was  not  yet.  The  gas-lamps  shone  in  the  murky 
thoroughfares  as  he  set  out  for  Piccadilly — alone.  The  others 
all  went  away  in  hansoms ;  he  preferred  to  walk.  And  even 
when  he  reached  his  rooms,  he  did  not  go  to  bed  at  once;  he 
sat  up  thinking,  a  prey  to  a  strange  sort  of  restlessness  that  had 
of  late  taken  possession  of  him.  For  this  young  man's  gay  and 
happy  butterfly-life  was  entirely  gone.  The  tragic  disappearance 
of  Nina,  followed  by  the  sudden  shattering  of  all  his  visionary 
hopes  in  connection  with  Honnor  Cunyngham,  had  left  him  in  a 
troubled,  anxious,  morbid  state  that  he  himself,  perhaps,  could 
not  well  have  accounted  for.  Then  the  sense  of  solitariness 
that  he  had  experienced  when  he  found  that  Nina  had  so  unex- 
pectedly vanished  from  his  ken  had  been  intensified  since  he 
had  taken  to  declining  invitations  from  his  fashionable  friends, 
and  spending  his  nights  in  the  aimless  distraction  of  gambling 
at  the  Garden  Club.  Was  there  a  touch  of  hurt  pride  in  his 
withdrawal  from  the  society  of  those  who  in  former  days  used 
to  be  called  "  the  great "  ?  At  least  he  discovered  this,  that  if  he 
did  wish  to  withdraw  from  their  society,  nothing  in  the  world 
was  easier.  They  did  not  importune  him.  He  was  free  to  go 
his  own  way.  Perhaps  this  also  wounded  him  ;  perhaps  it  was  to 
revenge  himself  that  he  sought  to  increase  his  popularity  with 
the  crowd  ;  at  night  he  sang  with  a  sort  of  bravado  to  bring 
down  the  house ;  in  the  day-time  it  comforted  him  to  perceive 
from  a  distance  in  that  or  the  other  window  a  goodly  display  of 
his  photographs,  which  he  had  learned  to  recognize  from  afar. 
But  in  whatever  direction  these  wayward  moods  drew  him  or 
tossed  him,  there  was  ever  this  all-2:)ervading  disquiet,  and  a 
haunting  regret  that  almost  savored  of  remorse,  and  a  sick  im- 
patience of  the  slow-passing  and  lonely  hours. 

He  had  given  up  all  hopes  of  hearing  from  Nina  now  or  of 
gaining  any  news  of  her.  Pandiani  had  nothing  to  tell  him. 
The  Signorina  Antonia  Rossi  had  not  written  to  any  of  her  Nea- 
politan friends,  so  far  as  could  be  ascertained,  since  the  previous 
December ;  certainly  she  liad  not  presented  herself  here  in 
Naples  to  seek  any  engagement.  The  old  maestro,  in  praying 
liis  illustrious  and  celebrated  correspondent  to  accept  his  respect- 
ful submissions,  likewise  begged  of  him,  should   anything  be 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  3I5 

learned   with  regard  to  the  Signorina  Rossi,  to  communicate 
further.     There  was  no  hope  in  that  quarter. 

But  one  morning  Estelle  made  a  new  suggestion. 

"  There  is  something  I  have  recalled ;  yes,  it  is  perhaps  of 
not  great  importance  ;  yet  perhaps  again,"  she  said.  "  One  day 
Nina  and  I,  we  were  speaking  of  this  thing  and  the  other,  and 
she  said  it  was  right  and  proper  that  a  young  lady  should  have 
a  dot — what  is  the  English  ? — no  matter.  She  said  the  young 
lady  should  bring  something  towards  the — the  management; 
and  she  asked  how  she  or  I  could  do  that.  Then  comes  her 
plan.  She  was  thinking  of  it  before  she  arrives  in  England, 
It  was  to  go  to  America — to  be  engaged  for  concerts — oh,  thev 
pay  large,  large  salaries,  if  you  have  a  good  voice — and  Nina 
would  take  engagements  for  all  the  big  cities,  until  she  got  over 
to  San  Francisco,  and  from  there  to  Australia — a  great  tour — a 
long  time — but  at  the  end,  then  she  has  the  little  fortune,  and 
she  is  independent,  whatever  happens.  Marriage  ? — well,  per- 
haps not,  but  she  is  independent.  Yes,  it  was  Nina's  plan  to 
go  away  on  that  long  tour ;  but  she  comes  to  England — she  is 
engaged  at  the  New  Theatre — she  practises  her  little  economies 
— but  not  so  as  it  would  be  in  America,  and  now,  now  if  she 
wishes  to  go  away  for  a  long,  long  time,  is  it  not  America  ?  She 
goes  on  the  long  voyage ;  she  forgets — what  she  wishes  to  for- 
get. Her  singing,  it  is  constant  occupation  ;  she  must  work ; 
and  they  welcome  a  good  voice  there — she  will  have  friends. 
Do  you  consider  it  not  possible  ?  Yes,  it  is  possible — for  that 
is  to  go  entirely  away,  and  there  is  no  danger  of  any  one  inter- 
fering." 

"  It's  just  frightful  to  think  of,"  he  said,  "  if  wdiat  you  imag- 
ine is  correct.  Fancy  her  crossing  the  Atlantic  all  by  herself — 
landing  in  New  York  unknown  to  any  human  being  there — " 

"  Ah,  but  do  you  fear  for  Nina  ?"  Estelle  cried.  "  No,  no — 
she  has  courage — she  has  self-reliance,  even  in  despair — she  will 
have  made  preparations  for  all.  Everywhere  she  has  her  pass- 
port— in  her  voice.  '  I  am  Miss  Ross,  from  the  New  Theatre, 
London,'  she  says.  '  How  do  we  know  that  you  are  Miss  Ross  ?' 
'  Give  me  a  sheet  of  music,  then.'  Perhapa  it  is  in  a  theatre  or 
a  concert-room.  Nina  sings.  '  Thank  you,  mademoiselle,  it  is 
enough ;  what  are  the  terms  you  wish  for  an  engagement  ?' 
Then  it  is  finished,  and  Nina  has  all  her  plans  made  for  her  by 


316  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

the  management ;  and  she  goes  from  one  town  to  the  other,  far 
away  perhaps ;  perhaps  she  has  not  much  time  to  think  of  Eng- 
land.    So  much  the  better  ;  poor  Nina  !" 

And  for  a  while  he  took  an  eager  interest  in  the  American 
newspapers.  Such  of  them  as  he  could  get  hold  of  he  read 
diligently — particularly  the  columns  in  which  concerts  and  musi- 
cal entertainments  were  announced  or  reported.  But  there  was 
no  mention  of  Miss  Ross,  or  of  any  new  singer  whom  he  could 
identify  with  her.  Gradually  he  lost  all  hope  in  that  direction 
also.  He  did  not  forget  Nina.  He  could  not ;  but  he  grew  to 
think  that — whether  she  were  in  America,  or  in  Australia,  or  in 
whatever  far  land  she  might  be — she  had  gone  away  forever. 
Her  abrupt  disappearance  was  no  momentary  withdrawal ;  she 
had  sundered  their  familiar  association,  their  close  comradeship, 
that  was  never  to  be  resumed ;  according  to  the  old  and  sad  re- 
frain, it  was  "  Adieu  for  evermore,  my  dear,  and  adieu  for  ever- 
more !"  Well,  for  him  there  were  still  crowded  houses,  with 
their  dull  thunders  of  applause  ;  and  there  were  cards  and  bet- 
ting to  send  the  one  feverish  hour  flying  after  the  other ;  and 
there  were  the  lonely  walks  through  the  London  streets  in  the 
daytime — when  the  hours  did  not  fly  so  quickly.  He  had  care- 
fully put  away  those  trinkets  that  Nina  had  returned  to  him ; 
he  would  fain  have  forgotten  their  existence. 

And  then  there  was  Miss  Burgoyne.  Miss  Burgoyne  could 
be  very  brisk  and  cheerful  when  she  chose  ;  and  she  now  seemed 
bent  on  showing  Mr.  Lionel  Moore  the  sunnier  side  of  her  char- 
acter. In  truth,  she  was  most  assiduously  kind  to  the  young 
man,  even  when  she  scolded  him  about  the  life  he  was  leading. 
Her  room  and  its  mild  refreshments  were  always  at  his  disposal. 
She  begged  for  his  photograph,  and,  having  got  it,  she  told  him 
to  write  something  very  nice  and  pretty  at  the  foot  of  it;  why 
should  formalities  be  used  between  people  so  intimately  and  con- 
stantly associated  ?  On  more  than  one  occasion  she  substituted 
a  real  rose  (which  was  not  nearly  so  eflEective,  however)  for  the 
millinery  blossom  which  Grace  Mainwaring  had  to  drop  from  the 
balcony  to  her  lover  below ;  and  of  course  Lionel  had  to  treas- 
ure the  flower  and  keep  it  in  water,  until  the  hot  and  gassy 
atmosphere  of  his  dressing-room  killed  it.  Once  or  twice  she 
called  him  Lionel,  by  way  of  pretty  inadvertence. 

There  came  an  afternoon  when  the  fog  that  had  lain  all  dav 


PRINCE    FORTUNATCS.  3I7 

over  London  deepened  and  deepened  until  in  the  evening  the 
streets  were  become  almost  impassable.  The  various  members 
of  the  company,  setting  out  iu  good  time,  managed  to  reach  the 
theatre — though  there  were  breathless  accounts  of  adventures 
and  escapes  as  this  one  or  that  hurried  through  the  wings  and 
down  into  the  dressing-room  corridor ;  but  tlie  public,  not  being 
paid  to  come  forth  on  such  a  night,  for  the  most  part  preferred 
the  snugness  and  safety  of  their  own  homes,  so  that  the  house 
was  but  half  filled,  and  the  faces  of  the  scant  audience  were 
more  dusky  than  ever — were  almost  invisible — beyond  the  blaze 
of  the  footlights.  And  as  the  performance  proceeded,  Miss 
Burgoyne  professed  to  become  more  and  more  alarmed.  Dread- 
ful reports  came  in  from  without.  All  traffic  was  suspended. 
It  was  scarcely  possible  to  cross  a  street.  Even  the  policemen, 
familiar  witli  the  thoroughfares,  hardly  dared  leave  the  pave- 
ment to  escort  a  bewildered  traveller  to  the  other  side. 

When  Lionel,  having  dressed  for  the  last  act,  went  into  Miss 
Burgoyne's  room,  he  found  her  (apparently)  very  much  per- 
turbed. 

"  Have  you  heard  ?  It's  worse  than  ever !"  slie  called  to  him 
from  the  inner  apartment. 

"  So  they  say." 

"  Whatever  am  I  to  do  ?"  she  exclaimed,  her  anxiety  proving 
too  much  for  her  grammar. 

*'  Well,  I  think  you  couldn't  do  better  than  stop  where  you 
are,"  Harry  Thornhill  made  answer,  carelessly. 

"  Stop  where  I  am  ?  It's  impossible  !  My  brother  Jim  would 
go  frantic.  He  would  make  sure  I  was  run  over  or  drowned 
or  something,  and  be  off  to  the  police-stations." 

"  Oh,  no,  he  wouldn't ;  he  wouldn't  stir  out  on  such  a  night, 
if  he  had  any  sense." 

"  Not  if  he  thought  his  sister  was  lost  ?  That's  all  you  know. 
There  are  some  people  who  do  have  a  little  affection  in  their 
nature,"  said  Miss  Burgoyne,  as  she  drew  aside  the  curtain  and 
came  forth,  and  went  to  the  tall  glass.  "  But  surely  I  can  get  a 
four-wheeled  cab,  Mr.  Moore  ?  I  will  give  the  man  a  sovereign 
to  take  me  safe  home.  And  even  then  it  will  be  dreadful.  I 
get  so  frightened  in  a  bad  fog — absolutely  terrified — and  espe- 
cially at  night.  Supposing  the  man  were  to  lose  his  way  ?  Or 
he  miffht  be  drunk  ?    I  wish  I  had  asked  Jim  to  come  down  for 


318  PRINCE    FORXrNATUS. 

me.  There's  Miss  Constance's  mother  never  misses  a  single 
night ;  I  wonder  who  she  thinks  is  going  to  run  away  with  that 
puny-faced  creature !" 

"  Oh,  if  you  are  at  all  afraid  to  make  the  venture  alone,  I  will 
go  with  you,"  said  he.  "  I  don't  suppose  I  can  see  farther  in  a 
fog  than  any  one  else  ;  but  if  you  are  nervous  about  being  alone, 
you'd  better  let  me  accompany  you." 

"Will  you?"  she  said,  suddenly  wheeling  round,  and  bestow- 
ing upon  him  a  glance  of  obvious  gratitude.  "  That  is  indeed 
kind  of  you !  Now  I  don't  care  for  all  the  fogs  in  Christen- 
dom. But  really  and  truly,"  she  added — "  really  and  truly  you 
must  tell  me  if  I  am  taking  you  away  from  any  other  engagement." 

"  Not  at  all,"  he  said,  idly,  *'  I  had  thought  of  going  up  to 
the  Garden  Club  for  some  supper,  but  it  isn't  the  sort  of  night 
for  anybody  to  be  wandering  about.  When  I've  left  you  in  the 
Edgeware  Road,  I  can  find  my  way  to  my  rooms  easily.  Once  in 
Park  Lane,  I  could  go  blindfold." 

And  very  proud  and  pleased  was  Miss  Burgoyne  to  accept  his 
escort — that  is  to  say,  when  he  had,  with  an  immense  amount  of 
trouble,  brought  a  four-wheeled  cab,  accompanied  by  two  link- 
boys  with  blazing  torches,  up  to  the  stage-door.  And  when 
they  had  started  off  on  their  unknown  journey  through  this 
thick  chaos,  she  did  not  minimize  the  fears  she  otherwise 
should  have  suffered ;  this  was  thanking  him  by  implication. 
As  for  the  route  chosen  by  the  cabman,  or  rather  by  the  link- 
boys,  neither  he  nor  she  had  the  faintest  idea  what  it  was.  Out- 
side they  could  see  nothing  but  the  gold  and  crimson  of  the 
torches  flaring  through  the  densely  yellow  fog;  while  the  grat- 
ing of  the  wheels  against  the  curb  told  them  that  their  driver 
was  keeping  as  close  as  he  could  to  the  pavement.  Then  they 
would  find  themselves  leaving  that  guidance,  and  blindly  adven- 
turing out  into  the  open  thoroughfare  to  avoid  some  obstacle — 
some  spectral  wain  or  omnibus  got  hopelessly  stranded ;  while 
there  were  mufl3ed  cries  and  calls  here,  there,  and  everywhere. 
They  went  at  a  snail's  pace,  of  course.  Once,  at  a  corner,  the 
near  wheels  got  on  the  pavement ;  the  cab  tilted  over ;  Miss 
Burgoyne  shrieked  aloud  and  clung  to  her  companion ;  then 
there  was  a  heavy  bump,  and  the  venerable  vehicle  resumed  its 
slow  progress.  Suddenly  they  beheld  a  cluster  of  dim,  nebu- 
lous, [)hantom  lights  high  up  in  air. 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  ^19 

"  This  mast  be  Oxford  Circus,  surely,"  Lionel  said. 

He  put  his  head  out  of  the  window  and  called  to  the  cab- 
man. 

"  Where  are  we  now,  cabby  ?" 

"  Blessed  if  I  know,  sir  !"  was  the  husky  answer,  coming  from 
under  the  heavy  folds  of  a  cravat. 

"  Boy,"  he  called  again,  "  where  arc  we  ?  Is  this  Oxford 
Circus  ?" 

"  No,  no,  sir,"  responded  the  sharp  voice  of  the  London  gamin. 
"  We  ain't  'alf  way  up  Regent  Street  yet !" 

He  shut  the  window. 

"At  this  rate,  goodness  only  knows  when  you'll  ever  get 
home,"  he  said  to  her.  "  You  should  have  stopped  at  the  the- 
atre." 

"  Oh,  I  don't  mind,"  said  she,  cheerfully.  "It's  an  adventure. 
It's  something  to  be  talked  of  afterwards.  I  shouldn't  wonder 
if  the  theatrical  papers  got  hold  of  it — just  the  kind  of  para- 
graph to  go  the  round — Harry  Thornhill  and  Grace  Mainwaring 
lost  in  a  fog  together.  No,  I  don't  mind.  I'm  very  well  off. 
But  fancy  some  of  those  poor  girls  about  the  theatre,  who  must 
be  trying  to  get  home  on  foot.  No  four-wheeled  cabs  for  them  ; 
no  companion  to  keep  up  their  spirits.  I  sha'n't  forget  your 
kindness,  Mr.  Moore." 

Indeed,  Lionel  was  much  more  anxious  than  she  was.  He 
would  rather  have  done  without  that  paragraph  in  the  newspa- 
pers. All  his  senses  were  on  the  rack  ;  and  yet  he  could  make 
out  absolutely  nothing  of  his  whereabouts  in  this  formless  void 
of  a  world,  with  its  opaque  atmosphere,  its  distant  calls,  inqui- 
ries, warnings,  its  murky  lamp-lights  that  only  became  visible 
when  they  were  over  one's  head.  Miss  Burgoyne  seemed  to  be 
well  content,  to  be  amused  even.  She  liked  to  see  her  name  in 
the  newspapers.  There  would  be  a  pretty  little  paragraph  to 
get  quoted  in  gossippy  columns,  even  if  she  and  her  more  anx- 
ious fellow-adventurer  did  not  reach  home  till  breakfast-time. 

The  link-boys  certainly  deserved  the  very  substantial  reward 
that  Lionel  bestowed  on  them  ;  for  when,  after  what  seemed  in- 
terminable hours — with  all  kinds  of  stoppages  and  inquiries  in 
this  Egyptian  darkness — the  cab  came  to  a  final  halt,  and  when 
Miss  Burgoyne  had  been  piloted  across  the  pavement,  she  de- 
clared that  here,  indubitably,  was  her  own  door.    Indeed,  at  this 


320  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

very  moment  it  was  opened,  and  there  was  a  glimmer  of  a  can- 
dle in  the  passage. 

"  No,  Mr.  Moore,"  she  said,  distinctly,  when  Lionel  came  back 
after  paying  the  cabman,  "  you  are  not  going  off  like  that,  cer- 
tainly not.  You  must  be  starving ;  you  must  come  up-stairs  and 
have  something  to  eat  and  drink.  "  Jim,"  she  said,  addressing 
her  brother,  who  was  standing  there,  candle  in  hand,  "  have  you 
left  any  supper  for  us  ?" 

"  I  haven't  touched  a  thing  yet,"  said  he.  "  I've  been  wait- 
ing for  you  I  don't  know  how  long." 

"  There's  a  truly  heroic  brother  !"  exclaimed  the  young  lady, 
as  she  pulled  Lionel  into  the  little  lobby  and  shut  the  door. 
"  What's  enough  for  two  is  enough  for  three.  Come  along,  Mr. 
Moore ;  and  now  you've  got  safely  into  a  house,  I  think  you'd 
much  better  have  Jim's  room  for  the  night — or  the  morning, 
rather ;  I'm  sure  Jim  won't  mind  taking  the  sofa." 

"I?  Not  I !"  said  her  brother,  blowing  out  the  candle  as 
they  entered  the  lamp-lit  room. 

It  was  a  pretty  room,  and,  with  its  blazing  fire,  looked  very 
warm  and  snug  after  the  cold,  raw  night  without.  Miss  Bur- 
goyne  threw  off  her  cloak  and  hat,  and  set  to  work  to  supjile- 
ment  the  supper  that  \vas  already  laid  on  the  central  table.  Iler 
brother  Jim — who  was  a  dawdling,  good-natured-looking  lad  of 
about  fifteen,  clad  in  a  marvellous  costume  of  cricketing  trou- 
sers, a  "blazer"  of  overpowering  blue  and  yellow  stripes,  and 
an  Egyptian  fez  set  far  back  on  his  forehead — helped  her  to  ex- 
plore the  contents  of  the  cupboard  ;  and  very  soon  the  three  of 
them  were  seated  at  a  comfortable  and  most  welcome  little 
banquet.  Indeed,  the  charming  little  feast  was  almost  sumptu- 
ous ;  insomuch  that  Lionel  w^is  inclined  to  ask  himself  whether 
Miss  Burgoyne,  who  was  an  astute  young  lady,  had  not  foreseen 
the  possibility  of  this  small  supper-party  before  leaving  home 
in  the  afternoon.  The  oysters,  for  example  :  did  Miss  Burgoyne 
order  a  dozen  oysters  for  herself  alone  every  evening  ? — for  her 
])rother  declared  that  he  never  touched,  and  would  not  touch, 
any  such  thing.  Lionel  observed  that  his  own  photograph, 
which  he  had  recently  given  her,  had  been  accorded  the  place 
of  honor  on  the  mantel-shelf ;  another  portrait  of  him,  which 
she  had  bought,  stood  on  the  piano.  But  why  these  trivial  sus- 
picions, when  she  was  so  kind  and  ho8])itable  and  considerate  ? 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  321 

She  pressed  things  on  him ;  she  herself  filled  up  his  glass ;  she 
was  as  merry  as  possible,  and  talkative  and  good-lmniorod. 

"  Just  to  think  we've  known  each  other  so  long,  and  you've 
never  been  in  my  house  before  !"  she  said.  "  That's  a  portrait 
of  my  younger  sister  you're  looking  at — isn't  she  pretty  ?  It's 
a  pastel — Miss  Corkran's.  Of  course  she  is  not  allowed  to  sit 
up  for  me ;  only  Jim  does  that ;  he  keeps  me  company  at  sup- 
per-time, for  I  couldn't  sit  down  all  by  myself,  could  I,  in  the 
middle  of  the  night  ?  Ob,  yes,  you  must  have  some  more.  I 
know  gentlemen  are  afraid  of  champagne  in  a  house  looked 
after  by  a  woman ;  but  that's  all  right ;  that  was  sent  me  as  a 
Christmas  present  by  Mr.  Lehmann." 

"  It  is  excellent,"  Lionel  assured  her,  "  but  I  must  keep  my 
head  clear  if  I  am  to  find  my  way  into  Park  Lane  ;  after  that,  it 
will  be  easy  enough  getting  home." 

"  But  there's  Jim's  room,"  she  exclaimed. 

"  Oh,  no,  thank  you,"  he  said  ;  "  I  shall  get  down  there  with- 
out any  trouble." 

And  then  she  went  to  a  cabinet  that  formed  part  of  a  book- 
case, and  returned  with  a  cigar-box  in  her  hand. 

"  I  am  not  so  sure  of  these,"  she  said.  "  They  are  some  I 
got  when  papa  was  last  in  town,  and  he  seemed  to  think  them 
tolerable." 

"  Oh,  but  I  sha'n't  smoke,  thanks  ;  no,  no,  I  couldn't  think  of  it !" 
he  protested.    "  You'll  soon  be  coming  down  again  to  breakfast." 

"  To  please  me,  Mr.  Moore,"  she  said,  somewhat  authorita- 
tively. "  I  assure  you  there's  nothing  in  the  world  I  like  so 
much  as  the  smell  of  cigars." 

What  was  she  going  to  say  next?  But  he  took  a  cigar  and 
lit  it,  and  again  she  filled  up  his  glass,  which  he  had  not  emp- 
tied ;  and  they  set  to  talking  about  the  Royal  Academy  of  Music, 
while  she  nibbled  Lychee  nuts,  and  her  brother  Jim  subsided 
into  a  French  novel.  Miss  Burgoyne  was  a  sharp  and  shrewd 
observer;  she  had  had  a  sufliciently  varied  career,  and  had 
come  through  some  amusing  experiences.  She  talked  well,  but 
on  this  evening,  or  morning,  rather,  always  on  the  good-natured 
side  ;  if  she  described  the  foibles  of  any  one  with  whom  she  had 
come  in  contact,  it  was  with  a  laugh.  Lionel  was  inclined  to  for- 
get that  outer  world  of  thick,  cold  fog,  so  warm  and  pleasant  was 
the  bright  and  pretty  room,  so  easily  the  time  seemed  to  pass. 
14* 


332  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

However,  he  had  to  tear  himself  away  in  the  end.  She  in- 
sisted on  his  having  a  muffler  of  Jim's  to  wrap  round  his  throat ; 
both  she  and  her  brother  went  down-stairs  to  see  him  out ;  and 
then,  with  a  hasty  good-bye,  he  plunged  into  the  dark.  He  had 
some  difficulty  in  crossing  to  the  top  of  Park  Lane,  for  there 
were  wagons  come  in  from  the  country  waiting  for  the  daylight 
to  give  them  some  chance  of  moving  on  ;  but  eventually  he  found 
himself  iu  the  well-known  thoroughfare,  and  thereafter  had  not 
much  trouble  in  getting  down  to  his  rooms  in  Piccadilly.  This 
time  he  went  to  bed  without  sitting  up  in  front  of  the  fire  in 
aimless  reverie. 

This  was  not  the  last  he  was  to  hear  of  that  adventure.  Two 
days  afterwards  the  foreshadowed  paragraph  appeared  in  an  even- 
ing paper ;  and  from  thence  it  was  copied  into  all  the  weekly 
periodicals  that  deal  more  or  less  directly  with  theatrical  affairs. 
It  was  headed  "  '  The  Squire's  Daughter '  in  Wednesday  Night's 
Fog,"  and  gave  a  minute  and  somewhat  highly  colored  account 
of  Miss  Burgoyne's  experiences  on  the  night  in  question ;  while 
the  fact  of  her  having  been  escorted  by  ]\Ii-.  Lionel  Moore  was 
pointed  to  as  another  instance  of  the  way  in  which  professional 
people  were  always  ready  to  help  one  another.  That  this  ac- 
count emanated  in  the  first  place  from  Miss  Burgoyne  herself, 
there  could  be  no  doubt  whatever ;  for  there  were  certain  inci- 
dents— as,  for  example,  the  cab  wheels  getting  up  on  the  pave- 
ment and  the  near  upsetting  of  the  vehicle — which  were  only 
known  to  herself  and  her  companion ;  but  Lionel  did  not  in  his 
own  mind  accuse  her  of  having  directly  instigated  its  publica- 
tion. He  thought  it  was  more  likely  one  of  the  advertising 
tricks  of  Mr.  Lehmann,  who  was  always  trying  to  keep  the  chief 
members  of  his  company  well  before  the  public.  It  was  the 
first  time,  certainly,  that  he,  Lionel,  had  had  his  name  coupled 
(unprofessionally)  with  that  of  Miss  Burgoyne  in  the  columns 
of  a  newspaper  ;  but  was  that  of  any  consequence  ?  People 
might  think  what  they  liked.  He  had  grown  a  little  reckless 
and  careless  of  late. 

But  a  much  more  important  event  was  now  about  to  happen 
which  the  tlieatrical  papers  would  have  been  glad  to  get  for  their 
weekly  gossi[),  had  the  persons  chiefly  concerned  thought  fit. 
Just  at  this  time  there  was  being  formed  in  London,  under  dis- 
tinguished patronage,  a  loan-collection  of  arms  and  embroideries 


PRINCE    FORTUNATl'S.  323 

of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  there  was  to  be  a  Private  View  on  the 
Saturday  preceding  the  opening  of  the  exhibition  to  the  public. 
Among  others,  Miss  Burgoync  received  a  couple  of  cards  of  in- 
vitation, whereupon  she  came  to  Lionel,  told  him  that  her  brother 
Jim  was  going  to  see  some  football  match  on  that  day,  explained 
that  she  was  very  anxious  to  have  a  look  at  the  precious  needle- 
work, and  virtually  asked  him  to  take  her  to  the  show.  Lionel 
hung  back ;  the  crowd  at  this  Private  View  was  sure  to  include 
a  number  of  fashionable  folk ;  there  might  be  one  or  two  peo- 
ple there  whom  he  would  rather  not  meet.  But  Miss  Burgoync 
was  gently  persuasive,  not  to  say  pertinacious  ;  he  could  not 
well  refuse  ;  finally  it  was  arranged  he  should  call  for  her  about 
half-past  one  o'clock  on  the  Saturday,  so  that  they  might  have 
a  look  round  before  the  crush  began  in  the  afternoon. 

Trust  an  actress  to  know  how  to  dress  for  any  possible  occa- 
sion !  When  he  called  for  her,  he  found  her  attired  in  a  most 
charming  costume ;  though,  to  be  sure,  when  she  was  at  last 
ready  to  go,  he  may  have  thought  her  furs  a  trifle  too  magnifi- 
cent for  her  height.  They  drove  in  a  hansom  to  Bond  Street. 
There  were  few  people  in  the  rooms,  certainly  no  one  whom 
he  knew  ;  she  could  study  those  gorgeous  treasures  of  em- 
broidery from  Italy  and  the  East,  he  could  examine  the  swords 
and  daggers  and  coats  of  mail,  as  they  pleased.  And  when  they 
had  lightly  glanced  round  the  rooms,  he  was  for  getting  away 
again ;  but  she  was  bent  on  remaining  until  the  world  should 
arrive,  and  declared  that  she  had  not  half  exhausted  the  interest 
of  the  various  cases. 

As  it  chanced,  the  first  persons  he  saw  whom  he  knew  were 
Miss  Georgie  Lestrange  and  her  brother ;  and  Miss  Georgie,  not 
perceiving  that  any  one  was  with  him  (for  Miss  Burgoync  was 
at  the  moment  feasting  her  eyes  on  some  rich-hued  Persian 
stuffs),  came  up  to  him. 

"  Why,  Mr.  Moore,  you  have  quite  disappeared  of  late,"  the 
ruddy-haired  damsel  said,  quite  reproachfully.  "  Where  have 
you  been  ?     What  have  you  been  doing  ?" 

"  Don't  you  ever  read  the  newspapers,  Miss  Lestrange  ?"  he 
said,  "  I  have  been  advertised  as  being  on  view  every  night  at 
the  New  Theatre." 

"  Oh,  I  don't  mean  that.  Lady  Adela  says  you  have  quite 
forsaken  her." 


324  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  Is  Lady  Adela  to  be  here  tills  afternoon  ?"  lie  asked,  in  an 
ofiE-hand  way. 

"  Ob,  certainly,"  replied  Miss  Georgie.  "  Sbe  is  going  every- 
wbere  just  now,  in  order  to  put  everytbing  into  ber  new  novel. 
It  is  to  be  a  perfectly  complete  picture  of  London  life  as  we  see 
it  around  us." 

"  Tbat  is,  tbe  London  between  Bond  Street  and  Campden 
Hill?" 

"  Ob,  well,  all  London  is  too  big  for  one  canvas.  You  must 
cut  it  into  sections.  I  dare  say  sbe  will  take  up  Wbitecbapel  in 
ber  next  book." 

Miss  Burgoyne  turned  from  tbe  glass  case  to  seek  ber  com- 
panion, and  seemed  a  little  surprised  to  find  bim  talking  to  tliese 
two  strangers.  It  was  tbe  swiftest  glance ;  but  Miss  Georgie 
divined  tbe  situation  in  an  instant. 

"  Good-bye  for  tbe  present,"  sbe  said,  and  sbe  and  ber  brotber 
passed  on. 

And  now  be  was  more  anxious  tban  ever  to  get  away.  If 
Lady  Adela  and  ber  sisters  were  coming  to  tbis  exbibition,  was 
it  not  bigbly  probable  tbat  Honnor  Cunyngbam  migbt  be  of  tbe 
party  ?  lie  did  not  wisb  to  meet  any  one  of  tliem ;  especially 
did  he  not  care  to  meet  tbem  wbile  he  was  acting  as  escort  to 
Miss  Burgoyne.  There  were  reasons  which  be  could  hardly 
define ;  be  only  knew  tbat  the  clicking  of  the  turnstile  on  the 
stair  was  an  alarming  sound,  and  tbat  he  regarded  each  new 
group  of  visitors,  as  they  came  into  tbe  room,  with  a  furtive  ap- 
prehension. 

"  Ob,  very  well,"  Miss  Burgoyne  said,  at  length, "  let  us  go." 
And  on  tbe  staircase  sbe  again  said:  "What  is  it?  Are  you 
afraid  of  meeting  the  mamma  of  some  girl  you've  jilted  ?  Or 
some  man  to  whom  you  owe  money  for  cards  ?  Ab,  Master 
Lionel,  when  are  you  going  to  reform  and  lead  a  steady  and 
respectable  life  ?" 

He  breathed  more  freely  when  be  was  outside ;  here,  in  tbe 
crowd,  if  be  met  any  one  to  whom  he  did  not  wish  to  speak,  he 
could  be  engaged  with  bis  companion  and  pass  on  without  recog- 
nition, lie  proposed  to  Miss  Burgoyne  that  they  should  walk 
home,  by  way  of  Piccadilly  and  Park  Lane,  and  tbat  young 
lady  cbo(!rfuily  assented.  It  was  quite  a  [)lcasant  afternoon,  for 
London  in  midwintci'.     Tbe  setting  sun  sliotic  witb  a  dull-cop- 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  305 

per  lustre  along  the  fronts  of  the  tall  huildings,  and  over  the 
trees  of  the  Green  Park  hung  clouds  that  were  glorified  by  the 
intervening  red-hued  mists.  The  air  was  crisp  and  cold — what 
a  blessing  it  was  to  be  able  to  breathe ! 

Lionel  was  silent  and  absorbed  ;  he  only  said,  "  Yes  ?"  "  Real- 
ly !"  "  Indeed !"  in  answer  to  the  vivacious  chatter  of  his  com- 
panion, who  was  in  the  most  animated  spirits.  His  brows  were 
drawn  down ;  his  look  was  more  sombre  than  it  ought  to  have 
been,  considering  who  was  with  him.  Perhaps*  he  was  thinking 
of  the  crowded  rooms  they  had  recently  left,  and  of  the  friends 
who  might  now  be  arriving  there,  from  whom  lie  had  voluntarily 
isolated  himself.  Had  they,  had  any  one  of  them,  counselled 
him  to  keep  within  his  own  sphere  ?  Well,  he  had  taken  that 
advice  ;  here  he  was — walking  with  Miss  Burgoyne  ! 

All  of  a  sudden  that  young  lady  stopped  and  turned  to  the 
window  of  a  jeweller's  shop ;  and  of  course  he  followed.  No 
wonder  her  eyes  had  been  attracted  ;  here  were  all  kinds  of 
beautiful  things  and  splendors — tiaras,  coronets,  necklaces,  pen- 
dants, bracelets,  earrings,  bangles,  brooches — set  with  all  manner 
of  precious  stones,  the  clear,  radiant  diamond,  the  purple  ame- 
thyst, the  sea-green  emerald,  the  mystic  opal,  the  blue-black  sap- 
phire, the  clouded  pearl.  Her  raptured  vision  wandered  from 
tray  to  tray,  but  it  was  a  comparatively  trifling  article  that  finally 
claimed  her  attention — a  tiny  finger-ring  set  with  small  rubies 
and  brilliants. 

"  Oh,  do  look  at  this !"  she  said  to  her  companion.  "  Did 
you  ever  see  such  a  love  of  a  ring  ? — what  a  perfect  engagement- 
ring  it  would  make !" 

Then  what  mad,  half-sullen,  half-petulant,  and  wholly  reckless 
impulse  sprang  into  his  brain  ! 

"  Well,  will  you  wear  that  as  an  engagement-ring,  if  I  give  it 
to  you  ?"  he  asked. 

She  looked  up,  startled,  amused,  but  not  displeased. 

"  Why,  really — really — that  is  a  question  to  ask  !"  she  ex- 
claimed. 

"  Come  along  in  and  see  if  it  fits  your  finger — come  along  !" 
and  therewith  Miss  Burgoyne,  a  little  bewildered  and  still  in- 
clined to  laugh,  found  herself  at  the  jeweller's  counter.  Was  it 
a  joke  ?  Oh,  certainly  not.  Lionel  was  quite  serious  and  mat- 
ter of  fact.     The  tray  was  produced.     The  ring  was  taken  out. 


336  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

For  a  moment  she  hesitated  as  to  which  finger  to  try  it  on,  but 
overcame  that  shyness  and  placed  it  on  the  third  finger  of  her 
left  hand  and  said  it  fitted  admirably. 

"Just  keep  it  where  it  is,  then,"  he  said;  and  then  he  added 
a  word  or  two  to  the  jeweller,  whom  he  knew  ;  and  he  and  his 
companion  left  the  shop. 

*'  Oh,  Lionel,  what  an  idea  !"  said  Miss  Burgoyne,  with  her 
eyes  bent  modestly  on  the  pavement.  "  If  I  had  fancied  you 
knew  that  man,  do  you  think  I  would  ever  have  entered  the 
place  ?  What  must  he  think  ?  What  would  any  one  think  ? — an 
engagement  in  the  middle  of  the  streets  of  London  !" 

*'  Plenty  of  witnesses  to  the  ceremony,  that's  all,"  said  he, 
lightly. 

Nay,  was  there  not  a  curious  sense  of  possession,  now  that 
he  walked  alongside  this  little,  bright  person  in  the  magnificent 
furs  ?  He  had  acquired  something  by  this  simple  transaction ; 
he  would  be  less  lonely  now  ;  he  would  mate  with  his  kind. 
But  he  did  not  choose  to  look  far  into  the  future.  Here  he 
was  walking  along  Piccadilly,  with  a  cheerful  and  smiling  and 
prettily  costumed  young  lady  by  his  side  who  had  just  been  so 
kind  as  to  accept  an  engagement-ring  from  him,  and  what  more 
could  he  want? 

"  Lionel,"  she  said,  still  with  modestly  downcast  eyes,  "  this 
mustn't  be  known  to  any  human  being — no,  not  to  a  single  hu- 
man being — not  yet,  I  mean,  I  will  get  a  strip  of  white  india- 
rubber  to  cover  the  ring,  so  that  no  one  shall  be  able  to  see  it 
on  the  stage." 

Perhaps  he  recalled  the  fact  that  recently  she  had  been  wear- 
ing another  ring  similarly  concealed  from  the  public  gaze ;  or 
perhaps  he  had  forgotten  that  little  circumstance.  What  did  it 
matter  ?  Did  anything  matter  ?  He  only  knew  he  had  pledged 
himself  to  marry  Kate  Burgoyne — enough. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

IN     DIRER     STRAITS. 


Now,  when  a  young  man,  in  whatever  wayward  mood  of  pet- 
ulance or  defiance  or  wounded  self-love,  chooses  to  j)lay  tricks 


PRINCE    FORTUNATU8.  327 

with  liis  own  fate,  he  is  pretty  sure  to  discover  that  sooner  or 
later  he  has  himself  to  reckon  with — his  other  and  saner  self 
that  will  arise  and  refuse  to  be  silenced.  And  this  awakening 
came  almost  directly  to  Lionel  Moore.  Even  as  he  went  down 
to  the  theatre  that  same  evening,  he  began  to  wonder  whether 
Miss  Burgoyne  would  really  be  wearing  the  ring  he  had  given 
her.  Or  would  she  not  rather  consider  the  whole  affair  a  joke  ? 
— not  a  very  clever  joke,  indeed,  but  at  least  something  to  be 
put  on  one  side  and  forgotten.  She  had  been  inclined  to  laugh 
at  the  idea  of  two  people  becoming  engaged  to  each  other  in 
the  middle  of  the  London  streets,  A  life-pledge  offered  and 
accepted  in  front  of  a  window  in  Piccadilly  ! — why,  such  was 
the  way  of  comic  opera,  not  of  the  actual  world.  Jests  of 
that  kind  were  all  very  well  in  the  theatre,  but  they  were  best 
confined  to  the  stage.  And  would  not  Miss  Burgoyne  under- 
stand that  on  a  momentary  impulse  he  had  yielded  to  a  fit  of 
half-sullen  recklessness,  and  would  she  not  be  quite  ready  and 
willing  to  release  him  ? 

But  when,  according  to  custom,  he  went  into  her  room  that 
evening,  he  soon  became  aware  that  Miss  Burgoyne  did  not  at 
all  treat  this  matter  as  a  jest. 

"  See  !"  she  said  to  him,  with  a  becoming  shyness — and  she 
showed  him  how  cleverly  she  had  covered  her  engagement-ring 
with  a  little  band  of  flesh-tinted  india-rubber,  *'  No  one  will  be 
able  to  see  it ;  and  I  sha'n't  have  to  take  it  off  at  all.  Why,  I 
could  play  Galatea,  and  not  a  human  being  would  notice  that 
the  statue  was  wearing  a  ring  !" 

She  seemed  very  proud  and  pleased  and  happy,  though  she 
spoke  in  an  imdertone,  for  Jane  was  within  earshot.  As  for 
him,  he  did  not  say  anything.  Of  course  he  was  bound  to  stand 
by  what  he  had  done  and  suffer  the  consequences,  whatever  they 
might  be.  When  he  left  the  room  and  went  up-stairs  into  the 
wings,  it  was  in  a  vague  sort  of  stupefaction  ;  but  here  were  the 
immediate  exigencies  of  the  stage,  and  perhaps  it  was  better 
not  to  look  too  far  ahead. 

But  it  was  with  just  a  little  sense  of  shame  that  he  found, 
when  the  piece  was  over,  and  they  were  ready  to  leave  the  the- 
atre, that  Miss  Burgoyne  expected  him  to  accompany  her  on  her 
way  home.  If  only  he  had  had  sufficient  courage,  he  might  have 
said  to  her, 


328  PRINCE    F0RTUNATU8. 

"  Look  here ;  we  are  engaged  to  be  married,  and  I'm  not  go- 
ing to  back  out ;  I  will  fulfil  my  promise  whenever  you  please. 
But  for  goodness'  sake  don't  expect  me  to  play  the  lover — off 
the  stage  as  well  as  on.  Sweethearting  is  a  silly  sort  of  busi- 
ness ;  don't  we  have  enough  every  evening  before  the  footlights  ? 
Let  us  conduct  ourselves  as  rational  human  creatures — when 
we're  not  paid  to  make  fools  of  ourselves.  What  good  will  it 
do  if  I  drive  home  with  you  in  this  hansom?  Do  you  expect 
me  to  put  my  arm  round  your  waist  ?  No,  thanks ;  there  isn't 
much  novelty  in  that  kind  of  thing  for  Grace  Mainwaring  and 
Harry  Thornhill." 

And  when  eventually  they  did  arrive  in  Edgeware  Road,  she 
could  not  induce  him  to  enter  the  house  and  have  some  bit  of 
supper  with  herself  and  her  brother  Jim. 

"  What  are  you  going  to  do  to-morrow,  then  ?"  she  asked. 
"  Will  you  call  for  me  in  the  morning  and  go  to  church  with 
me?" 

"  I  don't  think  I  shall  stir  out  to-morrow,"  he  said,  "  I  feel 
rather  out  of  sorts ;  and  I  fancy  I  may  try  what  a  day  in  bed 
will  do." 

"  How  can  you  expect  to  be  well  if  you  sit  up  all  night  play- 
ing cards  ?"  she  demanded,  with  reason  on  her  side.  "  How- 
ever, there's  to  be  no  more  of  that  now.  So  you  won't  come  in 
— not  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour  ?" 

She  rang  the  bell. 

•'  Oh,  Lionel,  by  the  way,  do  you  think  Jim  should  know  ?" 
she  asked,  with  her  eyes  cast  down  in  maiden  modesty. 

"  Just  as  you  like,"  he  answered. 

"  Why,  you  don't  seem  to  take  any  interest !"  she  exclaimed, 
with  a  pout.  "I  wonder  what  l^crcy  Miles  will  say  when  ho 
hears  of  it.     Oh,  my  goodness,  I'm  afraid  to  think !" 

"  What  he  will  say  won't  matter  very  much,"  Lionel  remarked, 
indifferently. 

"  Poor  boy  !  I'm  sorry  for  him,"  she  said,  apparently  with  a 
little  compunction,  perhaps  even  regret. 

The  door  was  opened  by  her  brother.       , 

"  Sure  you  won't  come  in?"  she  finally  asked.  "  Well,  I  shall 
be  at  home  all  to-morrow  afternoon,  if  you  happen  to  be  up  in 
this  direction.     Good-night !" 

"  Good-night,"  said   he,  taking  her  outstretched  hand  for  a 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  329 

second  ;  then  he  turned  and  walked  away.     There  had  not  been 
much  love-making — so  far. 

But  he  did  not  go  straight  to  his  lodgings.  He  wandered 
away  aimlessly  through  the  dark  streets.  He  felt  sick  at  heart 
— not  especially  because  of  this  imbroglio  into  which  he  had 
walked  with  open  eyes,  for  that  did  not  seem  to  matter  much, 
one  way  or  the  other.  But  everything  appeared  to  have  gone 
wrong  with  him  since  Nina  had  left ;  and  the  worst  of  it  was 
that  he  was  gradually  ceasing  to  care  how  things  went,  right  or 
wrong.  At  this  moment,  for  example,  he  ought  to  have  been 
thinking  of  the  situation  he  had  created  for  himself,  and  resolv- 
ing either  to  get  out  of  it  before  more  harm  was  done,  or  to 
loyally  fulfil  his  contract  by  cultivating  what  affection  for  Miss 
Burgoyne  was  possible  in  the  circumstances.  But  he  was  not 
thinking  of  Miss  Burgoyne  at  all.  He  was  thinking  of  Nina. 
He  was  thinking  how  hard  it  was  that  whenever  his  fancy  went 
in  search  of  her — away  to  Malta,  to  Australia,  to  the  United 
States,  as  it  might  be — he  could  not  hope  to  find  a  Nina  whom 
he  could  recognize.  For  she  would  be  quite  changed  now. 
His  imagination  could  not  picture  to  himself  a  Nina  grown 
grave  and  sad-eyed,  perhaps  furtively  hiding  her  sorrow,  fear- 
ing to  encounter  her  friends.  The  Nina  whom  he  had  always 
known  was  a  light-hearted  and  laughing  companion,  eagerly 
talkative,  a  smile  on  her  parted  lips,  affection,  kindliness  ever 
present  in  her  shining,  soft,  dark  eyes.  Sometimes  silent,  too  ; 
sometimes,  again,  singing  a  fragment  of  one  of  the  old  familiar 
folk-songs  of  her  youth.  What  was  that  one  with  the  refrain, 
"  lo  te  voglio  bene  assaje,  e  tu  non  pienz'  a  me  "  ? — 

"  La  notta  tutte  dormeno, 
E  io  che  biio  dormire ! 
Pensanno  a  Neuna  mia 
Mine  sent'  ascevoli. 
Li  quarte  d'  ora  sonano 
A  uno,  a  doje  e  tre  .  .  . 
Io  te  voglio  bene  assaje, 
E4u  non  pienz'  a  me !" 

— Look,  now,  at  this  beautiful  morning — the  wide  bay  all  of 
silver  and  azure — Vesuvius  sending  its  column  of  dusky  smoke 
into  the  cloudless  sky — the  little  steamer  churning  up  the  clear 
water  as  it  starts  away  from  the  quay.     Ah,  we  have  escaped 


330  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

from  you,  good  Maestro  Pandiani ;  there  shall  be  no  grumblings 
and  incessant  repetitions  to-day  ;  no,  nor  odors  of  onions  com- 
ing up  the  narrow  and  dirty  stairs ;  here  is  the  open  world,  all 
shining,  and  the  sweet  air  blowing  by,  and  Battista  trying  to 
sell  his  useless  canes,  and  the  minstrels  playing  "  Santa  Lucia  " 
most  sentimentally,  as  though  they  had  never  played  it  before. 
Whither,  then,  Nina?  To  Castellamare  or  Sorrento,  with  their 
pink  and  yellow  houses,  their  terraces  and  gardens,  their  vine- 
smothered  bowers,  or  rather  to  the  filmy  island  out  yonder,  that 
seems  to  move  and  tremble  in  the  heat  ?  A  couple  of  words  in 
their  own  tongue  suffice  to  silence  the  importunate  coral-girls  ; 
we  climb  the  never-ending  steps;  behold,  a  cool  and  gracious 
balcony,  with  windows  looking  far  out  over  the  quivering  plain 
of  the  sea.  Then  the  soup,  and  the  boiled  corn,  and  the  caccia- 
cavallo — you  Neapolitan  girl ! — and  nothing  will  serve  you  but 
that  orris-scented  stuff  that  you  fondly  believe  to  be  honest 
wine.  You  'will  permit  a  cigarette  ?  Then  shall  we  descend  to 
the  beach  again,  and  get  into  a  boat,  and  lie  down,  and  find 
ourselves  shot  into  the  Blue  Grotto — find  ourselves  floating  be- 
tween heaven  and  earth  in  a  hollow-sounding  globe  of  azure 
flame  ?  .  .  .  Dreams — dreams  !  "  lo  te  voglio  bene  assaje,  e  tu 
non  pienz'  a  me  /" 

During  the  first  period  of  Miss  Burgoyne's  engagement  to 
Lionel  Moore,  all  went  well.  Jane,  her  dresser,  had  quite  a  won- 
derful time  of  it ;  her  assiduous  and  arduous  ministrations  were 
received  with  the  greatest  good-nature  ;  now  she  was  never 
told,  if  she  hurt  her  mistress  in  lacing  up  a  dress,  that  she  de- 
served to  have  her  face  slapped.  Miss  Burgoyne  was  amiability 
itself  towards  the  whole  Company,  so  far  as  she  had  any  rela- 
tions with  them ;  and  at  her  little  receptions  in  the  evening  she 
was  all  brightness  and  merriment,  even  when  she  had  to  join  in 
the  conversation  from  behind  the  heavy  portiere.  Whether  this 
small  coterie  in  the  theatre  guessed  at  the  true  state  of  affairs, 
it  is  hard  to  say ;  but  at  least  Miss  Burgoyne  did  not  trouble 
herself  much  about  concealment.  She  called  her  aflianccd  lover 
"  Lionel,"  no  matter  who  chanced  to  be  present ;  and  she  would 
ask  him  to  help  her  to  hand  the  tea,  just  as  if  he  already  be- 
longed to  her.  Moreover,  she  told  him  that  Mr.  Percival  Miles 
had  some  suspicion  of  what  had  happened. 

"Not  that  1  would  admit  anything  definite,"  said  the  young 


PRINCE    FORTUNATCS.  331 

lady.  "  There  will  be  time  enough  for  that.  And  I  did  not 
want  a  scene.  But  I'm  sorry.  It  docs  seem  a  pity  that  so 
much  devotion  should  meet  with  no  requital." 

"  Devotion  !"  said  Lionel. 

"  Oh,  of  course  you  don't  know  what  devotion  is.  Your 
fashionable  friends  have  taught  you  what  good  form  is  ;  you 
are  blase,  indifferent ;  it's  not  women,  it's  cards,  that  interest 
you.  You  have  no  fresh  feeling  left,"  continued  this  ingenue 
of  the  greenroom.     "  You  have  been  so  spoiled — " 

"  I  see  he's  up  at  the  Garden  Club,"  said  Lionel,  to  change 
the  subject. 

"  Who  ?" 

"  The  young  gentleman  you  were  just  speaking  of." 

"  Percy  Miles  ?     What  does  he  want  with  an  all-night  club  ?" 

"  I'm  sure  I  don't  know." 

"  Ah,  well,  I  suppose  he  is  not  likely  to  get  in,"  she  said, 
turning  to  the  tall  mirror.  "  Percy  is  very  nice — just  the  nicest 
boy  I  know — but  I'm  afraid  he  is  not  particularly  clever.  He 
has  written  some  verses  in  one  or  two  magazines — of  course 
you  can't  expect  me  to  criticise  them  severely,  considering  who 
was  the  *  only  begetter '  of  them — " 

"  Oh,  that  has  nothing  to  do  with  it,"  Lionel  interrupted  again. 
"  He  is  sure  to  get  in.  There's  no  qualification  at  the  Garden, 
so  long  as  you're  all  right  socially.  There  are  plenty  such  as 
he  In  the  club  already." 

"  But  why  does  he  want  to  get  in  ?"  she  said,  wheeling  round. 
"  Why  should  he  want  to  sit  up  all  night  playing  cards  ?  Now 
tell  me  honestly,  Lionel,  it  isn't  your  doing !  You  didn't  ask 
him  to  join,  did  you  ?  You  can't  be  treasuring  up  any  feeling 
of  vengeance — " 

"  Oh,  nonsense  ;  I  had  nothing  to  do  with  it.  I  saw  his  name 
in  the  candidates'  book  quite  by  accident.  And  the  election  is 
by  committee — he'll  get  in  all  right.  What  does  he  want  with' 
it? — oh,  I  don't  know.  Perhaps  he  has  been  disappointed  in 
love  and  seeks  for  a  little  consolation  in  card-playing." 

"Yes,  you  always  sneer  at  love — because  you  don't  know 
anything  about  it,"  she  said,  snappishly.  "  Or  perhaps  you  are 
an  extinct  volcano.  I  suppose  you  have  sighed  your  heart  out 
like  a  furnace — and  for  a  foreigner,  I'll  be  bound  !" 

Nay,  it  was  hardly  to  be  wondered  at  that  Miss  Burgoyne  should 


332  PRINCE    FORTUNATCS. 

be  indignant  with  so  lukewarm  and  reluctant  a  lover,  who  received 
her  coy  advances  with  coldness,  and  was  only  decently  civil  to 
her  when  they  talked  of  wholly  indifferent  matters.  The  mis- 
chief of  it  was  that,  in  casting  about  for  some  key  to  the  odd 
situation,  she  took  it  into  her  head  to  become  jealous  of  Nina  ; 
and  many  were  the  bitter  things  she  managed  to  say  about  for- 
eigners generally,  and  about  Italians  in  particular,  and  Italian 
singers,  and  so  forth.  Of  course  Miss  Ross  was  never  openly 
mentioned,  but  Lionel  understood  well  enough  at  whom  these 
covert  innuendoes  were  hurled ;  and  sometimes  his  eyes  burned 
with  a  fire  far  other  than  that  which  should  be  in  a  lover's  eyes 
when  contemplating  his  mistress.  Indeed,  it  was  a  dangerous 
amusement  for  Miss  Burgoyne  to  indulge  in.  It  was  easy  to 
wound  ;  it  might  be  less  easy  to  efface  the  memory  of  those 
wounds.  And  then  there  was  a  kind  of  devilish  ingenuity  about 
her  occult  taunts.  For  example,  she  dared  not  say  that  doubt- 
less Miss  Nina  Ross  had  gone  away  back  to  Naples,  and  had 
taken  up  with  a  sweetheart,  with  whom  she  was  now  walking 
about;  but  she  described  the  sort  of  young  maa  calculated  to 
capture  the  fancy  of  an  Italian  girl. 

"  The  seedy  swell  of  Naples  or  Rome — he  is  irresistible  to  the 
Italian  girl,"  she  said,  on  one  occasion.  "  You  know  him ;  his 
shirt  open  at  the  neck  down  almost  to  his  chest — his  trousers 
tight  at  the  knee  and  enormously  wide  at  the  foot — a  poncho- 
looking  kind  of  cloak,  with  a  greasy  Astrachan  collar — a  tall 
French  hat,  rather  shabby — a  face  the  color  of  paste — an  odor 
of  cigarettes  and  garlic — dirty  hands — and  a  cane.  I  suppose 
the  theatre  is  too  expensive,  so  he  goes  to  the  public  gardens, 
and  strolls  up  and  down,  and  takes  off  his  hat  with  a  sweep  to 
people  he  pretends  to  recognize  ;  or  perhaps  he  sits  in  front  of 
a  cafe^  with  a  glass  of  cheap  brandy  before  him,  an  evening 
journal  in  his  hands,  and  a  toothpick  in  his  mouth." 

"You  seem  to  have  made  his  very  particular  acquaintance," 
said  he,  with  a  touch  of  scorn.  "  Did  he  give  you  his  arm  when 
you  were  walking  together  in  the  public  gardens?" 

"  Give  me  his  arm  ?"  she  exclaimed.  "  I  would  not  allow  such 
a  creature  to  come  within  twenty  yards  of  me  !  I  prefer  people 
who  use  soap." 

"  What  a  pity  it  is  they  can't  invent  soap  for  purifying  the 
mind  !"  he  said,  venomously  ;  and  he  went  out,  and  spoke  no 
more  to  her  during  the  rest  of  that  evening. 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  333 

Matters  went  from  bad  to  worse ;  for  Miss  Burgoyne,  finding 
nothing  else  that  could  account  for  his  habitual  depression  of 
spirits,  his  occasional  irritability  and  obvious  indifEerence  tow- 
ards herself,  made  bold  to  assume  that  he  was  secretly,  even  if 
unconsciously,  fretting  over  Nina's  absence ;  and  her  jealousy 
grew  more  and  more  angry  and  vindictive,  until  it  carried  her 
beyond  all  bounds.  For  now  she  began  to  say  disparaging  or 
malicious  things  about  Miss  Ross,  and  that  without  subterfuge. 
At  last  there  came  a  climax. 

She  had  sent  for  him  (for  he  did  not  invariably  go  into  her 
room  before  the  beginning  of  the  last  act,  as  once  he  had  done), 
and,  as  she  was  still  in  the  inner  apartment,  he  took  a  chair,  and 
stretched  out  his  legs,  and  flicked  a  spot  or  two  of  dust  from  his 
silver-buckled  shoes. 

"  What  hour  did  you  get  home  this  morning  ?"  she  called  to 
him,  in  rather  a  saucy  tone. 

"  I  don't  know  exactly." 

"  And  don't  care.  You  are  leading  a  pretty  life,"  she  went 
on,  rather  indiscreetly,  for  Jane  was  with  her.  "  Distraction  ! 
Distraction  from  what  ?  You  sit  up  all  night ;  you  eat  supper 
at  all  hours  of  the  morning ;  you  get  dyspepsia  and  indigestion  ; 
and  of  course  you  become  low-spirited — then  there  must  be  dis- 
traction. If  you  would  lead  a  wholesome  life  you  wouldn't  need 
any  distraction." 

"  Oh,  don't  worry  !"  he  said,  impatiently. 

"  What's  come  over  that  Italian  friend  of  yours — that  Miss 
Ross  ?" 

» I  don't  know." 

"  You've  never  heard  anything  of  her  ?" 

"  No — nothing." 

'*  Don't  you  call  that  rather  cool  on  her  part  ?  You  introduce 
her  to  this  theatre,  you  get  her  an  engagement,  you  befriend  her 
in  every  way,  and  all  of  a  sudden  she  bolts,  without  a  thank 
you !" 

"  I  presume  Miss  Ross  is  the  best  judge  of  her  own  actions," 
said  he,  stiffly. 

"  Oh,  you  needn't  be  so  touchy  !"  said  Grace  Thornhill,  as  she 
came  forth  in  all  the  splendor  of  her  bridal  array,  and  at  once 
proceeded  to  the  mirror.  "  But  I  can  quite  understand  your 
not  liking  having  been  treated  in  that  fashion.     People  often 


334  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

are  deceived  in  their  friends,  aren't  they  ?  And  there's  nothing 
so  horrid  as  ingratitude.  Certainly  she  ought  to  have  been  grate- 
ful to  you,  considering  the  fuss  you  made  about  her — the  whole 
company  remarked  it !" 

He  did  not  answer ;  he  did  not  even  look  her  way  ;  but  there 
was  an  angry  cloud  gathering  on  his  brows. 

"  No ;  very  ungrateful,  I  call  it,"  she  continued,  in  the  same 
dangerously  supercilious  tone.  "  You  take  up  some  creature 
you  know  nothing  about  and  befriend  her,  and  even  make  a 
spectacle  of  yourself  through  the  way  you  run  after  her,  and  all 
at  once  she  says,  '  Good-bye ;  I've  had  enough  of  you ' — and 
that's  all  the  explanation  you  have  !" 

"  Oh,  leave  Miss  Ross  alone,  will  you  ?"  he  said,  in  accents 
that  might  have  warned  her. 

Perhaps  she  was  unheeding ;  perhaps  she  was  stung  into  re- 
tort ;  at  all  events,  she  turned  and  faced  him. 

"  Leave  her  alone  ?"  she  said,  with  a  flash  of  defiance  in  her 
look.  "  It  is  you  who  ought  to  leave  her  alone  !  She  has  cheat- 
ed you — why  should  you  show  temper  ?  Why  should  you  sulk 
with  every  one,  simply  because  an  Italian  organ-grinder  has 
shown  you  what  she  thinks  of  you  ?  Oh,  I  suppose  the  heav- 
ens must  fall,  because  you've  lost  your  pretty  plaything — that 
made  a  laughing-stock  of  you  ?  You  don't  even  know  where 
she  is — I  can  tell  you ! — wandering  along  in  front  of  the  pave- 
ment at  Brighton,  in  a  green  petticoat  and  a  yellow  handkerchief 
on  her  head,  and  singing  to  a  concertina!  That's  about  it,  I 
should  think ;  and  very  likely  the  seedy  swell  is  waiting  for  her 
in  their  lodgings — waiting  for  her  to  bring  the  money  home !" 

Lionel  rose ;  he  said  not  a  word  ;  but  the  pallor  of  his  face 
and  the  fire  in  his  eyes  were  terrible  to  see.  Plainly  enough  she 
saw  them ;  but  she  was  only  half-terrified  ;  she  seemed  aroused 
to  a  sort  of  whirlwind  of  passion. 

"  Oh,  say  it !"  she  cried.  "  Why  don't  you  say  it?  Do  you 
think  I  don't  see  it  in  your  eyes  ?  '  /  hate  you  /' — that's  what 
you  want  to  say ;  and  you  haven't  the  courage — you're  a  man, 
and  you  haven't  the  courage  !" 

That  look  did  not  depart  from  his  face  ;  but  he  stood  in  silence 
for  a  second,  as  if  considering  whether  he  should  speak.  His 
self-control  infuriated  her  all  the  more. 

"  Do  you  think  I  care  ?"  she  exclaimed,  with  panting  breath. 


PRINCE    F0BTUNATU8.  335 

"  Do  you  think  I  care  whether  you  hate  me  or  not — whether 
you  go  sighing  all  day  after  your  painted  Italian  doll  ?  And  do 
you  imagine  I  want  to  wear  this  thing — that  it  is  for  this  I  will 
put  up  with  every  kind  of  insult  and  neglect?     Not  I !" 

She  pulled  the  bit  of  india-rubber  from  her  finger  ;  she  dragged 
off  the  engagement-ring  and  dashed  it  on  the  floor  in  front  of 
liis  feet — while  her  eyes  sparkled  with  rage,  and  the  cherry -paste 
hardly  concealed  the  whiteness  of  her  lips. 

"  Take  it — and  give  it  to  the  organ-grinder !"  she  called,  in 
the  madness  of  her  rage. 

He  did  not  even  look  whither  the  ring  had  rolled.  Without 
a  single  word  he  quite  calmly  turned  and  opened  the  door  and 
passed  outside.  Nay,  he  was  so  considerate  as  to  leave  the  door 
open  for  her ;  for  he  knew  she  would  be  wanted  on  the  stage 
directly.  He  himself  went  up  into  the  wings — in  his  gay  cos- 
tume of  satin  and  silk  and  powdered  wig  and  ruffles. 

Had  the  audience  only  known,  during  the  last  act  of  this  com- 
edy, what  fierce  passions  were  agitating  the  breasts  of  the  two 
chief  performers  in  this  pretty  play,  they  might  have  looked  on 
with  added  interest.  How  could  they  tell  that  the  gallant  and 
dashing  Harry  ThoTnhill  was  in  his  secret  heart  filled  with  an- 
ger and  disdain  whenever  he  came  near  his  charming  sweet- 
heart? how  could  they  divine  that  the  coquettish  Grace  Main- 
warino-  was  not  thinking  of  her  wiles  and  graces  at  all,  but  was 
on  the  road  to  a  most  piteous  repentance  ?  The  one  was  saying 
to  himself,  "  Very  well,  let  the  vixen  go  to  the  devil ;  a  happy 
riddance  !"  and  the  other  was  saying,  "  Oh,  dear  me,  what  have 
I  done  ? — why  did  he  put  me  in  such  a  passion  ?"  But  the  pub- 
lic in  the  stalls  were  all  unknowing.  They  looked  on  and  laughed, 
or  looked  on  and  sat  solemn  and  stolid^  as  happened  to  be  their 
nature ;  and  then  they  slightly  clapped  their  pale-gloved  hands, 
and  rose  and  donned  their  cloaks  and  coats.  They  had  forgotten 
what  the  piece  was  about  by  the  time  they  reached  their  brough- 
ams. 

Later  on,  at  the  stage-door,  whither  a  four-wheeler  had  been 
brought  for  her.  Miss  Burgoyne  lingered.  Presently  Lionel  came 
along.  He  would  have  passed  her,  but  she  intercepted  him  ; 
and  in  the  dusk  outside  she  thrust  forth  her  hand. 

"  Will  you  forgive  me,  Lionel  ?  I  ask  your  forgiveness,"  she 
said,  in  an  undertone  that  was  suggestive  of  tears.     "  I  dou't 


336  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

know  wliat  made  me  say  such  things — I  didn't  mean  them — 
I'm  very  sorry.  See,"  she  continued,  and  in  the  dull  lamp-light 
she  showed  him  her  ungloved  hand,  with  the  engagement-ring 
in  its  former  place — "  I  have  put  on  the  ring  again.  Of  course, 
you  are  hurt  and  offended ;  but  you  are  more  forgiving  than  a 
woman — a  man  should  be.  I  will  never  say  a  word  against  her 
again ;  I  should  have  remembered  how  you  were  companions 
before  she  came  to  England ;  and  I  can  understand  your  affec- 
tion for  her,  and  your — your  regret  about  her  going  away.  Now 
will  you  be  generous  ? — will  you  forgive  me  V 

"  Oh,  yes,  that's  all  right,"  he  said — as  he  was  bound  to  say. 

"But  that's  not  enough.  Will  you  come  now  and  have  some 
supper  with  Jim  and  me,  and  we'll  talk  about  everything — except 
that  one  thing  ?" 

"  No,  thanks,  I  can't ;  I  have  an  engagement,"  he  made  answer. 

She  hesitated  for  a  moment.  Then  she  offered  him  her  hand 
again. 

"  Well,  at  all  events,  bygones  are  to  be  bygones,"  she  said. 
"  And  to-morrow  I'm  going  to  begin  to  knit  a  woollen  vest  for 
you,  that  you  can  slip  on  before  you  come  out.  Good-night, 
dearest !" 

"  Good-night,"  he  said ;  and  he  opened  the  door  of  the  cab 
for  her  and  told  the  cabman  her  address ;  then — rather  slowly 
and  absently — he  set  out  for  the  Garden  Club. 

The  first  person  he  beheld  at  the  Garden  Club  was  Octavius 
Quirk — of  course  at  the  supper-table. 

"  Going  to  Lady  Adela's  on  the  3d  ?"  said  the  bilious-looking 
Quirk,  in  a  gay  manner. 

"  I  should  want  to  be  asked  first,"  was  Lionel's  simple  re- 
joinder. 

"  Ah  !"  said  the  other,  complacently.  "  I  heard  you  had  not 
been  much  there  lately.  A  charming  house — most  interesting — ■ 
quite  delightful  to  see  people  of  their  station  so  eagerly  devoted 
to  the  arts.  Music,  painting,  literature — all  the  elegancies  of  life 
— and  all  touched  with  a  light  and  graceful  hand.  You  should 
read  some  of  Lady  Adela's  descriptions  in  her  new  book — not 
seen  it  ? — no  ? — ah,  well,  it  will  bo  out  before  long  for  the  gen- 
eral world  to  read.  As  I  was  saying,  her  descriptions  of  places 
abroad  are  simply  cliarmiiig — channing.  There's  wlierc  the  i)rac- 
tised  traveller  comes  in  ;  no  heavy  and  laborious  work  ;  the  strik- 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  337 

ing  peculiarities  hit  off  with  the  most  delicate  appreciation  ;  the 
fine  fieur  of  difference  noted  everywhere.  Your  bourgeois  goes 
and  rams  his  bull's  head  against  everything  he  meets ;  he's  in 
wonderment  and  ecstacy  almost  before  he  lands  ;  he  stares  with 
astonishment  at  a  fisherwoman  on  Calais  pier  and  weeps  maudlin 
tears  over  the  masonry  of  the  Sainte  Chapelle.  Then  Lady  Ade- 
la's  style — marvellous,  marvellous.  I  give  you  my  word  as  an 
expert !  Full  of  distinction  ;  choice  ;  fastidious  ;  penetrated 
everywhere  by  a  certain  je  ne  sais  quoi  of  dexterity  and  apti- 
tude ;  each  word  charged  with  color,  as  a  critic  might  say.  You 
have  not  seen  any  of  the  sheets  ?"  continued  Mr.  Quirk,  with  his 
mouth  full  of  steak  and  olives.  "  Dear  me  !  You  haven't  quar- 
relled with  Lady  Adela,  have  you  ?  I  did  hear  there  was  some 
little  disappointment  that  you  did  not  get  Lady  Sybil's  '  Soldiers' 
Marching  Song'  introduced  at  the  New  Theatre ;  but  I  dare  say 
the  composer  wouldn't  have  his  operetta  interfered  with.  Even 
you  are  not  all-powerful.  However,  Lady  Adela  is  unreasonable 
if  she  has  taken  offence  :  I  will  see  that  it  is  put  right." 

"  I  wouldn't  trouble  you — thanks  !"  said  Lionel,  rather  coldly  ; 
and  then,  having  eaten  a  biscuit  and  drank  a  glass  of  claret  and 
water,  he  went  up-stairs  to  the  card-room. 

There  were  two  tables  occupied — one  party  plaving  whist,  the 
other  poker ;  to  the  latter  Lionel  idly  made  his  way. 

"  Coming  in,  Moore  ?" 

"Oh,  yes,  I'll  come  in.     What  are  you  playing?" 

"  Usual  thing :  sixpenny  ante  and  iive-shilling  limit." 

"  Let's  have  it  a  shilling  ante  and  a  sovereign  limit,"  he  pro- 
posed, as  they  made  room  for  him  at  the  table,  and  to  this  they 
agreed,  and  the  game  began. 

At  first  Lionel  could  get  no  hands  at  all,  but  he  never  went 
out ;  sometimes  he  drew  four  cards  to  an  ace  or  a  queen,  some- 
times he  took  the  whole  five ;  while  his  losses,  if  steady,  were 
not  material.  Occasionally  he  bluffed,  and  got  a  small  pot ;  but 
it  was  risky,  as  he  was  distinctly  in  a  run  of  bad  luck.  At  last 
he  was  dealt  nine,  ten,  knave,  queen,  ace,  in  different  suits. 
This  looked  better. 

"  How  many  ?"  asked  the  dealer. 

"  I  will  take  one  card,  if  you  please,"  he  said,  throwing  away 
the  ace. 

He  glanced  at  the  card,  as  he  put  it  intu  his  hand :  it  was  a 
15 


338  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

king;  he  had  a  straight.  Then  he  watched  what  the  others 
were  taking.  The  player  on  his  left  also  asked  for  one  —  a 
doubtful  intimation.  His  next  neighbor  asked  for  two — prob- 
ably he  had  three  of  a  kind.  The  dealer  threw  up  his  cards. 
The  age  had  already  taken  three—no  doubt  he  had  started  with 
the  common  or  garden  pair. 

It  was  Lionel's  turn  to  bet. 

"  Well,"  said  he,  "  I  will  just  go  five  shilHngs  on  this  little 
lot," 

"  I  will  see  your  five  shillings  and  go  a  sovereign  better," 
said  his  neighbor, 

"  That's  twenty-five  shillings  for  me  to  come  in,"  said  lie 
who  had  taken  two  cards,  "  Well,  I'll  raise  you  another  sov- 
ereign." 

The  age  went  out. 

"  Two  sovereigns  against  me,"  said  Lionel,  "  Very  well,  then, 
I'll  just  raise  you  another," 

"  And  another," 

This  frightened  the  third  player,  who  incontinently  retired. 
There  were  now  left  in  only  Lionel  and  his  antagonist,  and  each 
had  drawn  but  one  card.  Now  the  guessing  came  in.  Had  the 
player  been  drawing  to  two  pairs,  or  to  fill  a  flush  or  a  straight ; 
had  he  got  a  full  hand ;  or  was  he  left  with  his  two  pairs ;  or, 
again,  had  he  failed  to  fill,  and  was  he  betting  on  a  perfectly 
worthless  lot  ?  At  all  events  the  two  combatants  kept  hammer- 
ing away  at  each  other,  until  there  was  a  goodly  pile  of  gold  on 
the  table,  and  the  interest  of  the  silent  onlookers  was  propor- 
tionately increased.  Were  both  bluffing  and  each  afraid  to  call 
the  other  ?  Or  was  it  that  cruel  and  horrible  combination — a 
full  hand  betting  against  four  of  a  kind  ? 

"  I  call  you,"  said  Lionel's  enemy,  at  length,  as  he  put  down 
the  last  sovereign  he  had  on  the  table. 

"  A  straight,"  was  Lionel's  answer,  as  he  showed  his  cards, 

"  Not  good  enough,  my  boy,"  said  tbe  other,  as  he  calmly 
ranged  a  flush  of  diamonds  before  him, 

*'  Take  away  the  money,  Johnny,"  said  Lionel,  as  if  it  were  a 
matter  of  no  moment.  "  Or  wait  a  second  ;  I'll  go  you  double 
or  quits." 

But  here  there  was  an  almost  general  protest. 

*' r)|i    what's  the  use  of  that,  Moore?     Tt  was  the  duke  who 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  339 

brought  that  nonsense  in,  and  it  ought  to  be  stopped  ;  it  spoils 
the  game.  Stick  to  the  legitimate  thing.  When  you  once  be- 
gin that  stupidity,  there's  no  stopping  it." 

However,  the  player  whom  Lionel  had  challenged  had  no  mind 
to  deny  him. 

"  For  the  whole  pot,  or  for  what  you  put  in  ?"  he  asked. 

"  Either — whichever  you  like,"  Lionel  said,  carelessly. 

"  We'll  say  the  whole  pot,  then :  cither  I  give  you  what's  on 
the  table,  or  you  double  it,"  the  lucky  young  gentleman  made 
answer,  as  he  proceeded  to  count  the  sovereigns  and  chips — 
there  was  £28  in  all.  "  Will  you  call  to  me  ?  Very  well.  What 
do  you  say  this  is  ?" — spinning  a  sovereign. 

"  I  say  it's  a  head,"  Lionel  replied. 

"  You've  made  a  mistake,  then — very  sorry,"  said  the  other, 
as  he  raked  in  his  own  money. 

"  I  owe  you  twenty-eight  pounds,  Johnny,"  Lionel  said,  with- 
out more  ado;  and  he  took  out  his  note-book  and  jotted  it  down. 
Then  they  went  on  again. 

Now  the  game  of  poker  is  played  in  calm ;  happy  is  he  who 
can  preserve  a  perfectly  expressionless  face  through  all  its  vicis- 
situdes. But  the  game  of  whiskey-poker  (which  is  no  game)  is 
played  amid  vacuous  excitement  and  strong  language  and  deris- 
ive laughter — especially  towards  four  in  the  morning.  The  whole 
of  this  little  party  seemed  ready  to  go ;  in  fact,  they  had  all 
risen  and  were  standing  round  the  table  ;  but  nevertheless  they 
remained,  while  successive  hands  w^ere  dealt,  face  upwai'ds.  At 
first  only  a  sovereign  each  was  staked,  then  two,  then  three, 
then  four,  then  five — and  there  a  line  was  drawn.  But  in  stak- 
ing five  sovereigns  every  time,  with  four  to  one  against  you,  a 
considerable  amount  of  money  can  be  lost ;  and  Lionel  had  been 
in  ill-luck  all  the  sitting.  He  did  not,  however,  seem  to  mind 
his  losses,  so  long  as  the  fierce  spirit  of  gambling  could  be  kept 
up  ;  and  it  was  with  no  desperate  effort  at  recovering  his  money 
that  he  was  always  for  increasing  the  stakes.  He  would  have 
sat  down  at  the  table  and  gone  on  indefinitely  with  this  frantic 
plunging,  but  that  his  companions  declared  they  must  go  direct- 
ly ;  at  last  three  of  them  solemnly  swore  they  would  have  only 
one  round  more.  There  were  then  left  in  only  Lionel  and  the 
young  fellow  who  had  won  his  £28  early  in  the  evening. 

"  Johnny,  T'll  go  you  once  for  twenty  pounds,"  Lionel  said. 


340  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

*'  Done  with  you." 

"  I  say,  you  fellows,"  protested  one  of  the  bystanders,  "  you'll 
smash  up  this  club — you'll  have  the  police  shutting  it  up  as  a 
gambling-hell.  Besides,  you're  breaking  the  rules ;  you'll  have 
the  committee  expelling  you." 

*'  AVhat  rules  ?"  Lionel's  opponent  asked,  wheeling  round. 

"  The  amount  of  the  stakes,  for  one  thing ;  and  playing  after 
three  o'clock,  for  another,"  was  the  answer. 

"  I'll  bet  you  ten  pounds  there's  no  limit  as  to  time  in  the 
rules  of  this  club — I  mean  as  regards  card-playing,"  the  young 
man  said,  boldly. 

"  I  take  you." 

The  bell  was  rung ;  a  waiter  was  sent  to  fetch  a  List  of  Mem- 
bers ;  and  then  he  who  had  accepted  the  bet  read  out  these 
solemn  words  : 

"  Rule  XIX.  No  higher  stakes  than  guinea  points  shall  ever 
be  played  for,  nor  shall  any  card  or  billiard  playing  be  permit- 
ted in  the  club  after  3  a.m." 

"  There's  your  confounded  money ;  what  a  fool  of  a  club  to 
let  you  stay  here  all  night  if  you  like,  and  to  stop  card-playing 
at  three  !"  He  turned  to  Lionel.  "  Well,  Moore,  what  did  you 
say :  twenty  pounds  ?  I'll  just  make  it  thirty,  if  you  like,  and 
see  if  I  can't  get  back  that  ten." 

"  Right  with  you,  Johnny." 

The  young  man  dealt  the  two  hands :  he  found  he  had  a  pair 
of  fours,  Lionel  nothing  but  a  king.  The  winner  took  over  the 
loser's  I.  O.  IT.  for  the  £30,  and  then  said, 

"  Well,  now,  I'll  go  you  double  or  quits." 

"  Oh,  certainly,"  said  Lionel,  "  if  you  like.  But  I  don't 
think  you  should.  You  are  the  winner ;  stick  to  what  you've 
got." 

"  Oh,  I'll  give  you  a  chance  to  get  it  all  back,"  the  young 
man  said ;  and  this  time  Lionel  dealt  the  cards.  And  again  the 
latter  lost — having  to  substitute  an  I.  0.  U.  for  £00  for  its  pre- 
decessor. 

"  Well,  now,  I'll  give  you  one  more  chance,"  the  winner  said, 
with  a  laugh. 

"  I'm  banged  if  you  shall,  Johnny  !"  said  one  of  the  bystand- 
ers;  and  he  had  the  courage  to  intervene  and  snatch  up  the 
cards.      "  Cunie  away   tu  your  beds,  boys,  and   stop   (hat   nou- 


PRINCE    FORTDNATUS.  34I 

sense !     You've  lost  enough,  Moore  ;  and  this  fellow  would  go 
on  till  Doomsday." 

But  that  insatiate  young  man  was  not  to  be  beaten,  after  all. 
When  they  were  separating  in  the  street  below  he  drew  Lionel  aside. 

"  Look  here,  old  man,  why  should  we  be  deprived  of  our  final 
little  flutter  ?  I  want  to  give  you  a  chance  of  getting  back  the 
whole  thing." 

"  Not  at  all,  my  good  fellow,"  Lionel  said,  with  a  smile. 
"  Why  don't  you  keep  the  money  and  rest  content  ?  Do  you 
think  I  grudge  it  to  you  ?" 

"  Come — an  absolutely  last  double  or  quits,"  said  the  other, 
and  he  pulled  out  a  coin  from  his  pocket  and  put  it  between  his 
two  palms.     "  Heads  or  tails  ? — and  then  go  home  happy  !" 

"  Well,  since  you  challenge  me,  I'll  go  this  once  more,  and 
this  once  more  only.     I  call  a  tail." 

The  upper  hand  was  removed  :  in  the  dull  lamp-light  the  dusky 
gold  coin  was  examined. 

"  It's  a  head,"  said  Lionel,  "  so  that's  all  right,  and  it's  you 
who  are  to  go  home  happy.  I'll  settle  up  with  you  to-morrow 
evening.  Do  you  want  this  hansom?  —  I  don't:  I  think  I'd 
rather  walk.     Good-night,  Johnny." 

It  was  a  long  price  to  pay  for  a  few  hours  of  distraction  and 
f orgetfulness ;  still,  he  had  had  these ;  and  the  loss  of  the  money, 
jxr  se,  did  not  affect  him  nmch.  He  walked  away  home.  When 
he  reached  his  rooms,  there  were  some  letters  for  him  lying  on 
the  table ;  he  took  them  and  looked  at  them ;  he  noticed  one 
handwriting  that  used  to  be  rather  more  familiar.  This  letter 
he  opened  first. 

AiTRON  Lodge,  Campden  Hill,  Feb.  23. 

"  My  dear  Mr.  Moore, — It  is  really  quite  shocking  tlie  way  you  have  neg- 
lected us  of  late,  and  I,  at  least,  cannot  imagine  any  reason.  Perhaps  we 
have  both  been  in  fault.  My  sisters  and  I  iiavc  all  been  very  busy,  in  our 
several  ways ;  and  then  it  is  awkward  you  should  have  only  the  one  Sunday 
evening  free.  But  there,  let  bygones  be  bygones,  and  come  and  dine  with  us 
on  Sunday,  Marcli  3,  at  8.  Forgive  the  short  notice ;  I've  had  some  trouble 
in  trying  to  secure  one  or  two  people  whom  I  dou't  know  very  well,  and  I 
couldn't  fix  earlier.  The  fact  is,  I  want  it  to  be  an  intellectual  little  dinner; 
and  who  could  represent  music  and  the  drama  so  fitly  as  yourself?  I  want 
only  people  with  brains  at  it — perhaps  you  wouldn't  include  Rockminster  in 
that  category,  but  I  must  have  him  to  help  me,  as  my  husband  is  away  in 
Scotland  looking  after  his  beasts.  Now  do  be  good-uatured,  dear  Mr.  Moore, 
and  say  you  will  coma 


342  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"And  I  am  going  to  try  your  goodness  another  way.  You  remember 
Fpeaking  to  me  about  a  friend  of  yours  who  was  connected  with  newspaper?, 
and  who  knew  some  of  the  London  correspondents  of  tlie  provincial  journals  ? 
Could  you  oblige  me  with  his  address  and  the  correct  spelling  of  his  name  ? 
I  presume  he  would  not  consider  it  out  of  the  way  if  I  wrote  to  him  as  being 
a  friend  of  yours,  and  enclosed  a  card  of  invitation.  I  want  to  have  all  the 
talents — that  is,  all  of  them  I  can  get  to  come  and  honor  the  house  of  a  mere 
novice  and  beginner.  I  did  not  catch  either  your  friend's  surname  or  his 
Christian  name.  Ever  yours  sincerely,  Adela  Cdnyngham." 

He  tossed  the  letter  on  to  the  table. 

"  I  wonder,"  he  said  to  himself,  "  how  much  of  that  is  meant 
for  me,  and  how  much  for  Maurice  Mangan  and  newspaper  para- 
graphs." 

But  it  was  high  time  to  get  to  bed ;  and  that  he  did  without 
any  serious  fretting  over  his  losses  at  the  Garden  Club.  These 
had  amounted,  on  the  whole  gamble,  to  nearly  £170;  which 
might  have  made  him  pause.  For  did  he  not  owe  responsibili- 
ties elsewhere  ?  If  he  went  on  at  this  rate  (he  ought  to  have 
been  asking  himself)  whence  was  likely  to  come  the  money  for 
the  plenishing  of  a  certain  small  household — an  elegant  little  es- 
tablishment towards  which  Miss  Kate  Burgoyne  was  no  doubt 
now  looking  forward  with  pleased  and  expectant  eyes. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

IN    A    DEN   OF    LIONS,  AND    THEREAFTER. 

When  Maurice  Mangan,  according  to  appointment,  called  at 
Lionel's  rooms  on  the  evening  of  Lady  Adela  Cunyngham's  din- 
ner-party, he  was  surprised  to  find  his  friend  seated  in  front  of 
the  fire,  wrapped  up  in  a  dressing-gown. 

*'  Linn,  what's  the  matter  with  you  ?"  he  exclaimed,  looking  at 
him.     "  Are  you  ill  ?     What  have  you  been  doing  to  yourseif  ?" 

"  Oh,  nothing,"  was  the  answer.  "  1  have  been  rather  wor- 
ried and  out  of  sorts  lately,  that  is  all.  And  I  can't  go  to  that 
dinner  to-night,  Maurice.  Will  you  make  my  excuses  for  me,  like 
a  good  fellow  ?     Tell  Lady  Adela  I'm  awfully  sorry — '* 

"  I'm  sure  I  sha'n't  do  anything  of  the  sort,"  Mangan  said, 
promptly.  "  Do  you  think  I  am  going  to  leave  you  here  all  by 
yourself?     You  know  why  I  accepted  the  invitation  :  mere  curi- 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  343 

osity ;  I  wanted  to  see  you  among  those  people — I  wanted  to 
describe  to  Miss  Francic  bow  you  looked  wben  you  were  being 
adored — " 

"  My  dear  chap,  you  would  have  seen  nothing  of  the  sort," 
Lionel  said.  "  To-night  there  is  to  be  a  shining  galaxy  of  genius, 
and  each  particular  star  will  be  eager  to  absorb  all  the  adoration 
that  is  going.  Authors,  actors,  painters,  musicians — that  kind 
of  people  ;  kid-gloved  Bohemia." 

"  Come,  Linn  ;  rouse  yourself,  man,"  his  friend  protested. 
"  You'll  do  no  good  moping  here  by  the  fire.  There's  still  time 
for  you  to  dress ;  I  came  early  in  case  you  might  want  to  walk 
up  to  Campden  Hill.  And  you  shouldn't  disappoint  your  friends, 
if  this  is  to  be  so  great  an  occasion." 

"  I  suppose  you're  right,"  Lionel  said,  and  he  rose  wearily, 
"  though  I  would  twenty  times  rather  go  to  bed.  You  can  SikI 
a  book  for  yourself,  Maurice ;  I  sha'n't  keep  you  many  minutes," 
and  with  that  he  disappeared  into  his  dressing-room. 

A  four-wheeler  carried  them  up  to  Campden  Hill ;  a  welcome 
glow  of  light  shone  forth  on  the  carriage-drive  and  the  dark 
bushes.  As  they  entered  and  crossed  the  wide  hall,  they  were 
preceded  by  a  young  lady  whose  name  was  at  the  same  mo- 
ment announced  at  the  door  of  the  drawing-room — "  Miss  Ga- 
brielle  Grey." 

"  Oh,  really,"  said  Mangan  to  his  companion,  as  they  were 
leaving  their  coats  and  hats.  "  I  always  thought  '  Gabrielle 
Grey '  was  the  pseudonym  of  an  elderly  clergyman's  widow,  or 
somebody  of  that  kind." 

"  But  who  is  Miss  Gabriel  Grey  ?" 

"You  mean  to  say  you  have  never  even  heard  of  her?  Oh, 
she  writes  novels — very  popular,  too,  and  very  deservedly  so, 
for  that  kind  of  thing — excellent  in  tone,  highly  moral,  and 
stuffed  full  of  High-Church  sentiment ;  and  I  can  tell  you  this, 
Linn,  my  boy,  that  for  a  lady  novelist  to  have  plenty  of  High- 
Church  sentiment  at  her  command  is  about  equivalent  to  hold- 
ing four  of  a  kind  at  poker — and  that's  an  illustration  you'll 
understand.  Now  come  and  introduce  me  to  my  hostess,  and 
tell  me  who  all  the  people  are." 

Lady  Adela  received  both  Lionel  and  his  friend  in  the  most 
kindly  manner. 

"  What  a  charming  photograph  that  is  of  you  in  evening 


344  PRINCE    FOKTUNATUS. 

dress,"  she  said  to  Lionel.  "Really,  I've  had  to  lock  away  my 
copy  of  it ;  girls  are  such  thieves  nowadays ;  they  think  noth- 
ing of  picking  up  what  pleases  them  and  popping  it  in  their 
pockets."  And  therewith  Lady  Adela  turned  to  Mr.  (^uirk,  with 
whom  she  had  been  talking ;  and  the  new-comers  passed  on, 
and  found  themselves  in  a  corner  from  whence  they  could  sur- 
vey the  room. 

The  first  glance  revealed  to  Lionel  that,  if  all  the  talents  were 
there,  the  "  quality  "  was  conspicuously  absent. 

"  I  know  hardly  anybody  here,"  he  said,  in  an  undertone,  to 
Mangan. 

"  Oh,  I  know  some  of  them,"  was  the  answer,  also  in  an  under- 
tone. "  Rather  small  lions — I  think  she  might  have  done  bet- 
ter with  proper  guidance.  But  perhaps  this  is  only  a  beginning. 
Isn't  your  friend  Quirk  a  picture  ?  Who  is  the  remarkably 
handsome  girl  just  beyond  ?" 

"  That's  Lady  Adela's  sister.  Lady  Sybil." 

"  The  composer  ?  I  see  ;  that's  why  she's  talking  to  that  por- 
tentous old  ass,  Schweinkopf,  the  musical  critic.  Then  there's 
Miss  Gabrielle  Grey — poor  thing  !  she's  not  very  pretty — '1  was 
not  good  enough  for  man,  and  so  am  given  to  ' — publishers.  By 
Jove,  there's  Ichabod — standing  by  the  door ;  don't  you  know 
him  ? — Egerton — but  they  call  him  Ichabod  at  the  Garrick. 
Now,  what  could  our  hostess  expect  to  get  out  of  Ichabod  ?  He 
has  nothing  left  to  him  but  biting  his  nails  like  the  senile  Pope 
or  Pagan  in  the  *  Pilgrim's  Progress.' " 

"  What  does  he  do  ?" 

"  lie  is  a  reviewer,  et  prcetcrea  nihil.  Some  twenty  years  ago 
he  wrote  two  or  three  novels,  but  people  wouldn't  look  at  them, 
and  so  he  became  morose  about  the  public  taste  and  modern 
literature.  In  fact,  there  has  been  no  English  literature — for 
twenty  years ;  this  is  his  wail  and  moan  whenever  an  editor 
allows  him  to  lift  up  his  voice.  It  was  feeble  on  the  part  of 
your  friend  to  ask  Ichabod  ;  she  won't  get  anything  out  of  him. 
I  can  sec  a  reason  for  most  of  the  others — those  whom  I  know  ; 
but  Ichabod  is  hopeless." 

Mangan  suddenly  ceased  these  careless  comments  ;  liis  atten- 
tion was  arrested  by  the  entrance  of  a  tall  young  lady  who  came 
in  very  quietly — without  being  announced  even, 

"1  say,  who's  that?"  he  exclaimed,  under  his  breath. 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  345 

And  Lionel  had  been  startled  too  ;  for  he  had  convinced  him- 
self ere  he  came  that  Ilonnor  Cunyngham  was  certain  to  be  in 
Scotland.  But  there  she  was,  as  distinguished-looking,  as  self- 
possessed  as  ever ;  her  glance  direct  and  simj)le  and  calm, 
though  she  seemed  to  hesitate  for  a  moment  as  if  seeking  for 
some  one  whom  she  might  know  in  the  crowd.  From  the  fact 
of  her  not  having  been  announced,  Lionel  guessed  that  she 
was  staying  in  the  house  ;  perhaps,  indeed,  she  had  been  in 
the  drawing-room  before,  lie  hardly  knew  what  to  do.  lie 
forgot  to  answer  his  friend's  question.  If  dinner  were  to  be 
happily  announced  now,  would  it  not  save  her  from  some  em- 
barrassment if  he  and  she  could  go  in  their  separate  ways 
without  meeting?  and  thereafter  he  could  leave  without  return- 
ing to  the  drawing-room.  Yet,  if  she  were  staying  in  the  house, 
she  must  have  known  that  he  was  coming  ?" 

All  this  swift  consideration  was  the  work  of  a  single  second ; 
the  next  second  Miss  Honnor's  eyes  had  fallen  upon  the  young 
man  ;  and  immediately  and  in  the  most  natural  way  in  the  world 
she  came  across  the  room  to  him.  It  is  true  that  there  was  a 
slight  touch  of  color  visible  on  the  gracious  forehead  when  she 
offered  him  her  hand ;  but  there  was  no  other  sign  of  self-con- 
sciousness ;  and  she  said,  quite  quietly  and  simply, 

"  It  is  some  time  since  we  have  met,  Mr.  Moore ;  but,  of  course, 
I  notice  your  name  in  the  papers  frequently." 

"  I  hardly  expected  to  see  you  here  to-night,"  he  said,  in  reply. 
"  I  thought  you  would  be  off  to  Scotland  for  the  salmon-fishing." 

"  I  go  to-morrow  night,"  she  made  answer. 

At  the  same  moment  Lord  Rockminster  came  up,  holding  a 
bit  of  folded  paper  furtively  in  his  hand ;  the  faithful  brother 
looked  perplexed,  for  he  had  to  remember  the  names  of  these 
various  strangers  ;  but  here  at  least  were  two  whom  he  did  know. 

"  Mr.  Moore,  will  you  take  Miss  Cunyngham  in  to  dinner  ?"  he 
murmured,  as  he  went  by  ;  so  that  Lionel  found  there  would 
have  been  no  escape  for  him  in  any  case.  But  now  that  the 
first  little  awkwardness  of  their  meeting  was  over,  there  was 
nothing  else.  Miss  Cunyngham  spoke  to  him  quite  pleasantly 
and  naturall}^-  -though  she  did  not  meet  his  eyes  much.  Mean- 
time dinner  was  announced,  and  Lord  Rockminster  led  the  way 
with  a  trim  little  elderly  lady  whom  Lionel  afterwards  discov- 
ered to  be  (for  she  told  him  as  much)  the  London  correspond- 
15* 


346  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

cnt  of  a  famous  Parisian  journal  devoted  to  fashions  and  the 
beau  monde. 

And  here  he  was,  seated  side  by  side  with  Honnor  Cunyng- 
hani,  talking  to  her,  listening  to  her,  and  with  no  sort  of  pertur- 
bation whatever.  He  began  to  ask  himself  whether  he  had  ever 
been  in  love  with  her — whether  he  had  not  rather  been  in  love 
with  her  way  of  life  and  its  surroundings.  He  was  thinking 
not  so  much  of  her  as  her  departure  on  the  morrow,  and  the 
scenes  that  lay  beyond.  Why  had  he  not  £10,000  a  year — 
£5000 — nay,  £1000  a  year — and  freedom  ?  Why  could  he  not 
warm  his  soul  with  the  consciousness  that  the  salmon-rods  were 
all  packed  and  waiting  in  the  hall ;  that  new  casting-lines  had 
been  put  in  the  fly-book  ;  that  only  the  short  drive  up  to  Euston 
and  a  single  black  night  lay  between  him  and  all  the  wide  won- 
der of  the  world  that  would  open  out  thereafter  ?  Forth  from 
the  darkness  into  a  whiter  light — a  larger  day — a  sweeter  air ; 
for  now  we  are  among  the  russet  beech-hedges,  the  deep-green 
pines,  the  purple  hills  touched  here  and  there  with  snow  ;  and 
the  far-stretching  landscape  is  shining  in  the  morning  sun  ;  and 
the  peewits  are  wheeling  hither  and  thither  in  the  blue.  Then 
we  are  thundering  through  rocky  chasms  and  watching  the 
roaring  brown  torrent  beneath  ;  or  panting  or  struggling  away 
up  the  lonely  altitudes  of  Drumouchter ;  and  again  merrily  rac- 
ing and  chasing  down  into  the  spacious  valley  of  the  Spey.  And 
what  for  the  end? — the  long,  still  strath  after  leaving  Invershin 
— the  penetration  into  the  more  secret  solitudes — the  peaks  of 
Coulmore  and  Suilvcn  in  the  west — and  here  the  Aivron  mak- 
ing a  murmuring  music  over  its  golden  gravel  !  There  is  a 
smell  of  peat  in  the  air ;  there  are  children's  voices  about  the 
keepers'  cottages  ;  and  here  is  the  handsome  old  Robert,  rejoiced 
that  the  year  has  opened  again  and  Miss  Honnor  come  back  ! 
"  Well,  Robert,  you  must  come  in  and  have  a  dram,  and  I  will 
show  you  the  tackle  I've  brought  with  me."  "  I  am  not  wish- 
ing for  a  dram,  Miss  Honnor,  so  much  as  I  am  glad  to  see  you 
back  again,  ay,  and  looking  so  well !" 

"  Mr.  Moore,"  she  said  (and  she  startled  him  out  of  his  reverie), 
"  do  you  ever  give  a  little  dinner-party  at  your  rooms?" 

"  Well,  seldom,"  he  said.  "  You  sec,  I  have  only  the  one 
evening  in  the  week;  and  I  have  generally  some  engagement 
or  otiior." 


PRINCE    F0RTUNATU8.  347 

"  1  should  like  to  send  you  a  salmon,  if  it  would  be  of  any 
use  to  you,"  she  went  on  to  say. 

"  Thank  you  very  much ;  I  would  rather  see  you  hook  and 
land  it  than  have  the  compliment  of  its  being  sent  to  me  twenty 
times  over.  I  was  thinking  this  very  minute  of  the  Aivron,  and 
your  getting  down  to  the  ford  the  day  after  to-morrow,  and  old 
Robert  being  there  to  welcome  you.  I  envy  him — and  you. 
Are  you  to  be  all  by  yourself  at  the  lodge  ?" 

"  For  the  present,  yes,"  Miss  Honnor  said.  "  My  brother  and 
Captain  Waveney  come  at  the  beginning  of  April.  Of  course 
it  is  rather  hazardous  going  just  now  ;  the  river  might  be  frozen 
over  for  a  fortnight  at  a  time  ;  but  that  seldom  happens.  And 
in  ordinarily  mild  weather  it  is  very  beautiful  up  there — the 
most  beautiful  time  of  the  year,  I  think ;  the  birch-woods  are 
all  of  the  clearest  lilac,  and  the  brackens  turned  to  deep  crim- 
son ;  then  the  bent  grass  on  the  higher  hills — what  they  call 
deer's  hair — is  a  mass  of  gold.  And  I  don't  in  the  least  mind 
being  alone  in  the  evening — in  fact,  I  enjoy  it.  It  is  a  splendid 
time  for  reading.  There  is  not  a  sound.  Caroline  comes  in 
from  time  to  time  to  pile  on  more  peats  and  sweep  the  hearth  ; 
then  she  goes  out  again  ;  and  you  sit  in  an  easy-chair  with  your 
back  to  the  lamp ;  and  if  you've  got  an  interesting  book,  what 
more  company  do  you  want?  Then  it's  very  early  to  bed  in 
Strathaivron  ;  and  I've  got  a  room  that  looks  both  ways — across 
the  strath  and  down  ;  and  sometimes  there  is  moonlight  making 
the  windows  blue ;  or  if  there  isn't,  you  can  lie  and  look  at  the 
soft  red  light  thrown  out  by  the  peat,  until  the  silence  is  too 
much  for  you,  and  you  are  asleep  before  you  have  had  time  to 
think  of  it.  Now  tell  me  about  yourself,"  she  suddenly  said. 
"  I  hope  the  constant  work  and  the  long  and  depressing  winter 
have  not  told  on  you.  It  must  have  been  very  unpleasant  get- 
ting home  so  late  at  night  during  the  fogs." 

He  would  rather  she  had  continued  talking  about  the  far 
Aivron  and  the  Geinig;  he  did  not  care  to  come  back  to  the 
theatre  and  Kate  Burgoyne. 

"  One  gets  used  to  everything,  I  suppose,"  he  said. 

"  But  still  it  must  be  gratifying  to  you  to  be  in  so  successful 
a  piece — to  be  aware  of  the  delight  you  are  giving,  evening  after 
evening,  to  so  many  people,"  Miss  Honnor  reminded  him.  "  By 
the  way,  how  is  the  pretty  Italian  girl — the  young  lady  you  said 
you  had  known  in  Naples  ?" 


348  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  She  lias  left  the  New  Theatre,"  he  said,  not  lifting  his  eyes. 

"  Oh,  really.  Then  I'm  sure  that  must  have  been  unfortunate 
for  the  operetta ;  for  she  had  such  a  beautiful  voice — she  sang 
so  exquisitely — and  besides  that  there  was  so  much  refinement 
and  grace  in  everything  she  did.  I  remember  mother  was  so 
particularly  struck  with  her  ;  we  have  often  spoken  of  her  since  ; 
her  manner  on  the  stage  was  so  charming — so  gentle  and  grace- 
ful— it  had  a  curious  fascination  that  was  irresistible.  And  I 
confess  I  was  delighted  with  the  little  touch  of  foreign  accent ; 
perhaps  if  she  had  not  been  so  very  pretty,  one  would  have  been 
less  ready  to  be  pleased  with  everything.  And  where  is  she 
now,  Mr.  Moore  ?" 

"  I'm  sure  I  don't  know,"  Lionel  said,  rather  unwillingly  ;  he 
would  rather  not  have  been  questioned. 

"  And  is  that  how  friendships  in  the  theatre  are  kept  up  ?" 
Miss  Honnor  said,  reproachfully.  '^  But  it  is  all  very  well  for 
us  idle  folk  to  talk.  I  suppose  you  are  all  far  too  busy  to  give 
much  time  to  correspondence." 

"  No,  we  have  not  much  time  for  letter-writing,"  he  said, 
absently. 

Indeed,  it  was  well  for  him  that  he  had  this  companion  who 
could  talk  to  him  in  her  quiet,  low  tones;  for  he  was  out  of 
spirits  and  inclined  to  be  silent ;  and  certainly  he  had  no  wish 
to  join  in  the  frothy  discussion  which  Octavius  Quirk  had  started 
at  the  upper  end  of  the  table.  Mr.  Mellord,  the  famous  Acade- 
mician, had  taken  in  Lady  Adela  to  dinner ;  but  she  had  placed 
Mr.  Quirk  on  her  left  hand  ;  and  from  this  position  of  autliority 
he  was  roaring  away  like  any  sucking-dove  and  cliallenging 
everybody  to  dispute  his  windy  platitudes.  Lord  Rockminster, 
down  at  the  other  end,  mute  and  in  safety,  was  looking  on  at 
this  motley  little  assemblage,  and  probably  wondering  what  his 
three  gifted  sisters  would  do  next.  It  was  hard  that  he  had  no 
Miss  Gcorgie  Lestrange  to  amuse  him ;  perhaps  Miss  Georgic 
had  been  considered  ineligible  for  admission  into  this  intellec- 
tual coterie.  Poor  man  ! — and  to  think  he  might  have  been 
dining  in  solitary  comfort  at  his  club,  at  a  quiet  little  table,  with 
two  candles,  and  a  Sunday  paper  propped  up  by  the  water-bot- 
tle !  But  he  betrayed  no  impatience ;  he  sat  and  looked  and 
meditated. 

However,  when  dinner  was  over  and  the  ladies  had  left  the 


PRINCE    F0RTUNATU8.  349 

room,  lie  liad  to  go  and  take  his  sister's  place,  so  that  he  found 
himself  in  the  thick  of  the  babble.  Mr.  Quirk  was  no  longer 
goring  spiders'  webs ;  he  was  now  attacking  a  solid  and  sub- 
stantial subject — nothing  less  than  the  condition  of  the  British 
army  ;  and  a  pretty  poor  opinion  he  seemed  to  have  of  it.  As 
it  chanced,  the  only  person  who  had  seen  service  was  Lord  Rock- 
minster  (at  Knightsbridge),  but  he  did  not  choose  to  open  his 
mouth,  so  that  Mr.  Quirk  had  it  all  his  way — except  when  Mau- 
rice Mangan  thought  it  worth  while  to  give  him  a  cuff  or  a  kick, 
just  by  way  of  reminding  him  that  he  was  mortal.  Ichabod,  in 
silence,  stuck  to  the  port  wine.  Quincey  Hooper,  the  American 
journalist,  drew  in  a  chair  by  the  side  of  Lord  Rockminster  and 
humbly  fawned.  And  meanwhile  Quirk,  head  downward,  so  to 
speak,  charged  rank  and  file,  and  sent  them  flying ;  arose  again 
and  swept  the  heads  off  officers ;  and  was  just  about  to  annihi- 
late the  volunteers  when  Mangan  mterrupted  him. 

"  Oh,  you  expect  too  much,"  he  said,  in  his  slow  and  half- 
contemptuous  fashion.  "  The  British  soldier  is  not  over  well- 
educated,  I  admit ;  but  you  needn't  try  him  by  an  impossible 
standard.  I  dare  say  you  are  thinking  of  ancient  days  when  a 
Roman  general  could  address  his  troops  in  Latin  and  make  quite 
sure  of  being  understood  ;  but  you  can't  expect  Tommy  Atkins 
to  be  so  learned.  And  our  generals,  as  you  say,  may  chiefly 
distinguish  theiuseh'es  at  reviews ;  but  the  reviews  they  seem 
to  me  to  be  too  fond  of  are  those  published  monthly.  As  for 
the  volunteers — " 

"  You  will  have  a  joke  about  them,  too,  I  suppose,"  Quirk 
retorted.  "  An  excellent  subject  for  a  joke — the  safety  of  the 
country  !  A  capital  subject  for  a  merry  jest ;  Nero  fiddling  with 
Rome  in  flames — " 

"  I  beg  your  pardon ;  Nero  never  did  anything  of  the  kind," 
Mangan  observed,  with  a  perfectly  diabolical  inconsequence,  "  for 
violins  weren't  invented  in  those  da^^s." 

This  was  too  much  for  Mr.  Quirk ;  he  would  not  resume  ar- 
gument with  such  a  trifler  ;  nor,  indeed,  was  there  any  oppor- 
tunity ;  for  Lord  Rockminster  now  suggested  they  should  go 
into  the  drawing-room — and  Ichabod  had  to  leave  that  decanter 
of  port. 

Now,  if  Maurice  Mangan  had  come  to  this  house  to  see  how 
Lionel  was  feted  and  caressed  by  "the  great" — in  order  that  he 


350  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

might  carry  the  tale  down  to  Winstead  to  please  the  old  folk 
and  Miss  Francie — he  was  doomed  to  disappointment.  There 
were  very  few  of  "the  great"  present,  to  begin  with ;  and  those 
who  were  paid  no  particular  attention  to  Lionel  Moore.  It  was 
Octavius  Quirk  who  appeared  to  be  the  hero  of  the  evening,  so 
far  as  the  attention  devoted  to  him  by  Lady  Adela  and  her  im- 
mediate little  circle  was  concerned.  But  Maurice  himself  was 
not  wholly  left  neglected.  When  tea  was  brought  in,  his  host- 
ess came  over  to  where  he  was  standing. 

"  Won't  you  sit  down,  Mr.  Mangan  ? — I  want  to  talk  to  you 
about  something  of  very  great  importance — importance  to  me, 
that  is,  for  you  know  how  vain  young  authors  are.  You  have 
heard  of  my  new  book  ? — yes,  I  thought  Mr.  Moore  must  have 
told  you.  Well,  it's  all  ready,  except  the  title-page.  I  am  not 
quite  settled  about  the  title  yet ;  and  you  literary  gentlemen  are 
so  quick  and  clever  with  suggestions — I  am  sure  you  will  give 
me  good  advice.  And  I've  had  a  number  of  different  titles 
printed,  to  see  how  they  look  in  type ;  what  do  you  think  of 
this  one  ?  At  present  it  seems  to  be  the  favorite ;  it  was  Mr. 
Quirk's  suggestion — " 

She  showed  him  a  slip  with  "  North  and  South  "  printed  on 
it  in  large  letters. 

"I  don't  like  it  at  all,"  Mangan  said,  frankly.  "People  will 
think  the  book  has  something  to  do  with  the  American  civil  war. 
However,  don't  take  my  opinion  at  all.  My  connection  with  liter- 
ature is  almost  infinitesimal  —  I'm  merely  a  newspaper  hack, 
you  know." 

"  What  you  say  about  the  title  is  quite  right ;  and  I  am  so 
much  obliged  to  you,  Mr.  Mangan,"  Lady  Adela  said,  with  al- 
most pathetic  emphasis.  "  The  American  war,  of  course ;  I 
never  thought  of  that !" 

"What  is  Ichabod's  choice? — I  beg  your  pardon,  I  mean  have 
you  shown  the  titles  to  Mr.  Egerton  ?" 

"  I'm  afraid  he  doesn't  approve  of  any  of  them,"  said  Lady 
Adela,  sadly  turning  over  the  slips. 

"  No,  I  suppose  not ;  good  titles  went  out  with  good  fiction — 
wfien  he  ceased  to  write  novels  a  nun)bcr  of  years  ago.  May  I 
look  at  the  others  ?" 

She  handed  him  the  slips. 

"  Well,  now,  there  is  one  that  in  my  poor  opinion  would  be 
rather  effective — '  Lotus  and  Lily  ' — a  pretty  sound — " 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  35X 

"Yes — perhaps,"  said  Lady  Adela,  doubtfully,  "but  tlien, 
you  sec,  it  has  not  much  couucction  with  the  book.  Tlie  worst 
of  it  is  that  all  tlie  novel  is  printed — all  but  the  three  title-pages. 
Otherwise  I  might  have  called  my  heroine  Lily — " 

"  But  I  fear  you  could  not  have  called  your  hero  Lotus,"  said 
Mangan,  gravely.  "  Not  very  well.  However,  it  is  no  use  specu- 
lating on  that  now,  as  you  say.  What  is  the  next  one  ? — '  Trans- 
formation.' Of  course  you  know  that  Hawthorne  wrote  a  book 
under  that  title,  Lady  Adela  ?" 

"  Yes,"  said  she,  cheerfully.  "  But  there's  no  copyright  in 
America ;  so  why  shouldn't  I  take  the  title  if  it  suits  ?" 

He  hesitated ;  there  seemed  to  be  some  ethical  point  here ; 
but  he  fell  back  on  base  expediency. 

"  It  is  a  mistake  for  two  authors  to  use  the  same  title — I'm 
sure  it  is,"  said  he.  "  Look  at  the  confusion.  The  review- ers 
might  pass  over  your  novel,  thinking  it  was  only  a  new  edition 
of  Hawthorne's  book." 

"  Yes,  that's  quite  true,"  said  Lady  Adela,  thoughtfully. 

"  AVell,  here  is  one,"  he  continued.  "  '  Sicily  and  South  Ken- 
sington ;'  that's  odd ;  that's  new  ;  that  might  take  the  popular 
fancy." 

"  Do  you  know,  that  is  a  favorite  of  my  own,"  Lady  Adela 
said,  with  a  slight  eagerness,  "  for  it  really  describes  the  book. 
You  understand,  Mr.  Mangan,  all  the  first  part  is  about  the  South 
of  Italy ;  and  then  I  come  to  London  and  try  to  describe  every- 
thing that  is  just  going  on  round  about  us.  I  have  put  every- 
thing in  ;  so  that  really — though  I  shouldn't  praise  myself — but 
it  isn't  praise  at  all,  Mr.  Mangan,  it  is  merely  telling  you  what  I 
have  aimed  at — and  really  any  one  taking  up  my  poor  little  book 
some  hundred  years  hence  might  very  fairly  assume  that  it  was 
a  correct  picture  of  all  that  was  going  on  in  the  reign  of  Queen 
Victoria.  I  do  not  say  that  it  is  well  done ;  not  at  all ;  that 
would  be  self-praise  ;  but  I  do  think  it  may  have  some  little  his- 
torical value.  Modern  life  is  so  busy,  so  hurried,  and  so  com- 
plex that  it  is  difficult  to  form  any  impression  of  it  as  a  whole ; 
I  take  up  book  after  book,  written  by  living  authors  with  whom 
I  shouldn't  dream  of  comparing  myself,  and  yet  I  see  how  small 
a  circle  their  characters  work  in.  You  would  think  the  world 
consisted  of  only  eight  or  ten  people,  and  that  there  was  hardly 
room  for  them  to  move.    They  never  get  away  from  one  another ; 


352  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

tbey  clou't  mix  in  the  crowd  ;  there  is  no  crowd.  But  here  in  my 
poor  way  I  am  trying  to  show  what  a  panorama  London  is ;  al- 
ways changing  ;  occupations,  desires,  struggles  following  one  an- 
other in  breathless  rapidity ;  in  short,  I  want  to  show  modern 
life  as  it  is,  not  as  it  is  dreamed  of  by  clever  authors  who  live 
in  a  study.  Now  that  is  my  excuse,  Mr.  Mangan,  for  being  such 
a  dreadful  bore ;  and  I  am  so  much  obliged  to  you  for  your 
kind  advice  about  the  title ;  it  is  so  easy  for  clever  people  to  be 
kind — just  a  word,  and  it's  done.  Thank  you,"  said  she,  as  he 
took  her  cup  from  her  and  placed  it  on  the  table ;  and  then,  be- 
fore she  left  him,  she  ventured  to  say,  with  a  charming  modesty, 
"  I'm  sure  you  will  forgive  me,  Mr.  Mangan,  but  if  I  were  to  send 
you  a  copy  of  the  book,  might  I  hope  that  you  would  find  ten 
minutes  to  glance  over  it  ?" 

"  I  am  certain  I  shall  read  it  with  very  great  interest,"  said 
he ;  and  that  was  strictly  true,  for  this  Lady  Adela  Cunyng- 
ham  completely  puzzled  him ;  she  seemed  so  extraordinary  a 
combination  of  a  clever  woman  of  the  world  and  an  awful 
fool. 

And  Lionel  ?  Well,  he  had  got  introduced  to  Miss  Gabriellc 
Grey,  whom  he  found  to  be  a  very  quiet,  shy,  pensive  sort  of 
creature,  not  posing  as  a  distinguished  person  at  all.  He  dared 
not  talk  to  her  of  her  books,  for  he  did  not  even  know  the  names 
of  them ;  but  he  let  her  understand  that  he  knew  she  was  an 
authoress,  and  it  seemed  to  please  her  to  know  that  her  fame 
had  penetrated  into  the  mysterious  regions  behind  the  foot- 
lights. She  began  to  question  him,  in  a  timid  sort  of  way, 
about  his  experiences — whether  stage-fright  was  difficult  to  get 
over — whether  he  thought  that  the  immediate  and  enthusiastic 
approbation  of  the  public  was  a  beneficial  stimulant — whether 
the  continuous  excitement  of  the  emotional  nature  tended  to 
render  it  callous,  or,  on  the  other  hand,  more  sensitive  and  sym- 
pathetic— and  so  forth.  Was  she  dimly  looking  forward  to  the 
conquest  of  a  new  domain,  where  the  young  ladies  of  the  rec- 
tory and  the  vicarage  might  be  induced  fearfully  to  follow  her  ? 
]^>ut  Lionel  did  not  linger  long  in  that  drawing-room.  He  got 
Maurice  Mangan  away  as  soon  as  he  could  ;  they  slipped  out  un- 
observed— especially  as  there  were  plenty  of  new-comers  now 
arriving.  When  they  had  passed  down  through  the  back  gar- 
den to  the  gate,  the  one  lit  a  cigarette,  and  the  other  a  pipe ; 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  353 

and  together  they  wended  their  way  towards  Kensington  Road 
and  Piccadilly. 

"  Why,"  said  Mangan,  "  I  shall  have  quite  a  favoralile  rei)ort 
to  carry  down  to  Winstcad.  I  did  not  see  you  treated  with  any 
of  that  unwholesome  adulation  I  have  heard  so  niucli  of !" 

"  I  am  almost  a  stranger  in  the  house  now,"  Lionel  said, 
briefly. 

"  Why  ?" 

"  Oh,  various  circumstances,  of  late." 

"  They  did  not  even  ask  you  to  sing,"  his  friend  said,  in  ac- 
cents of  some  surprise. 

"  They  dared  not.  Didn't  you  see  that  most  of  the  people 
were  strangers  ?  How  could  Lady  Adela  be  sure  that  she  was 
not  wounding  somebody's  susceptibilities  by  having  operatic 
music  on  a  Sunday  evening  ?  She  knew  nothing  at  all  about 
half  those  people  ;  they  were  merely  names  to  her,  that  she  had 
collected  round  her  in  order  that  she  might  count  herself  in 
among  the  arts." 

"  That  ill-conditioned  brute  Quirk  seemed  to  me  to  be  domi- 
nating the  whole  thing,"  said  Mangan,  rather  testily.  "  It's  an 
awful  price  to  pay  for  a  few  puffs.  I  wonder  a  woman  like  that 
can  bear  him  to  come  near  her,  but  she  pets  the  baboon  as  if  he 
were  a  King  Charles  spaniel.  Linnie,  my  boy,  you're  no  longer 
first  favorite.  I  can  see  that ;  self-interest  has  proved  too  strong  ; 
the  flattering  little  review,  the  complimentary  little  notice,  has 
ousted  you.  It  isn't  you  who  are  privileged  to  meet  my  Lady 
Morgan  in  the  street — 

'And  then  to  gammon  her,  in  the  Examiner, 
With  a  paragraph  short  and  sweet.' 

Well,  now,  tell  me  about  that  very  striking-looking  girl,  or  wom- 
an, rather,  whom  you  took  in  to  dinner.  I  asked  you  who  she 
was  when  she  came  into  the  room." 

"  That  was  Miss  Honnor  Cunyngham." 

"  Not  the  salmon-fishing  young  lady  I  have  heard  you  speak 
of?" 

"  Yes." 

"  Why,  she  didn't  look  like  that,"  said  Mangan,  thoughtfully. 
"  Not  the  least.  She  has  got  a  splendid  foreliead — powerful  and 
clear — and  almost  too  much  character  about  the  square  brows 


354  PRINCE    FORTUNATCS. 

and  the  calm  eyes.  I  sliould  have  taken  her  to  be  a  strongly 
intellectual  woman,  of  the  finer  and  more  reticent  type.  AVell, 
well,  a  salmon-fishei  !" 

"  AVhy  shouldn't  she  be  both  ?" 

"Why,  indeed?"  said  Maurice,  absently ;  and  therewith  he 
relapsed  (as  was  frequently  his  wont)  into  silence,  and  in  silence 
the  two  friends  pursued  their  way  eastwards  to  Lionel's  rooms. 

But  when  they  had  arrived  at  their  destination,  when  soda- 
water  had  been  produced  and  opened,  and  when  Mangan  was 
lying  back  in  an  easy-chair,  regarding  his  friend,  he  resumed  the 
conversation. 

"  I  should  have  thought  going  to  see  those  people  to-night 
would  have  brightened  you  up  a  little,"  he  began,  "  but  you 
seem  thoroughly  out  of  sorts,  Linn.  What  is  the  matter? 
Overwork  or  worry  ?  I  should  not  think  overwork ;  I've  never 
seen  your  theatre-business  prove  too  much  for  you.  Worry  ? 
What  about,  then  ?" 

"  There  may  be  different  things,"  Lionel  said,  evasively,  as  he 
brought  over  the  spirit  case.  "  I  haven't  been  sleeping  well  of 
late — lying  awake  even  if  I  don't  go  to  bed  till  three  or  four ; 
and  I  get  a  singing  in  my  ears  sometimes  that  is  bothersome. 
Oh,  never  mind  me ;  I'm  all  right." 

"  But  I'm  going  to  mind  you,  for  you  are  not  all  right.  Is  it 
money  ?" 

"  No,  no." 

"  What,  then  ?     There  is  something  seriously  worrying  you." 

"  Oh,  there  are  several  things,"  Lionel  exclaimed,  forced  at 
last  into  confession.  "  I  can't  think  what  has  become  of  Nina 
Ross,  that's  one  thing;  if  I  only  knew  she  was  safe  and  well,  I 
don't  think  I  should  mind  the  other  things.  No,  not  a  bit.  But 
there  was  something  about  her  going  away  that  I  can't  explain 
to  you,  only  I — I  was  responsible  in  a  sort  of  way  ;  and  Nina 
and  I  were  always  such  good  friends  and  companions.  Well, 
it's  no  use  talking  about  that.  Then  there's  another  little  de- 
tail," he  added,  with  an  air  of  indifference  :  *'  I'm  engaged  to  be 
married." 

Mangan  stared  at  liim. 

"  Engaged  to  be  married  ?"  he  repeated,  as  if  he  had  not  heard 
aright.     "  To  whom  ?" 

"  Miss  Burgoyne." 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  :]55 

"  Miss  Burgoyne — of  the  New  Theatre  ?" 

"  The  same." 

"  Are  you  out  of  your  senses,  Linn  !"  Maurice  cried,  angrily. 

"  No,  I  don't  think  so,"  he  said,  and  he  went  to  tlie  mantel- 
piece for  a  cigarette. 

"How  did  it  come  about?"  demanded  Maurice,  again. 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know.  It  isn't  of  much  consequence,  is  it  ?" 
Lionel  answered,  carelessly. 

Then  Maurice  instantly  reflected  that,  if  this  thing  were  real- 
ly done,  it  was  not  for  him  to  protest. 

"  Of  course  I  say  nothing  against  the  young  lady — certainly 
not.  I  thought  she  was  very  pleasant  the  night  I  was  introduced 
to  her,  and  nice-looking  too.  But  I  had  no  idea  you  were  taken 
in  that  quarter,  Linn ;  none — hence  the  surprise.  I  used  to 
think  you  were  in  the  happy  position  which  Landor  declared  im- 
possible. What  were  the  lines  ?  I  haven't  seen  them  for  twenty 
years,  but  they  were  something  like  this  : 

'  Fair  maiden,  when  I  looii  on  tliee, 
I  wish  that  I  were  young  and  free ; 
But  both  at  once,  ah,  who  could  be  ?' 

I  thought  you  were  '  both  at  once  ' — and  very  well  content.  But 
supposing  you  have  given  up  your  freedom,  why  should  that  vex 
and  trouble  you  ?  The  engagement  time  is  said  to  be  the  hap- 
piest period  of  a  man's  life  ;  what  is  wrong  in  your  case  ?" 

Lionel  took  a  turn  or  two  up  and  down  the  room. 

"  Well,  I  will  tell  you  the  truth,  Maurice,"  he  blurted  out,  at 
last.  "  1  got  engaged  to  her  in  a  fit  of  restlessness  or  caprice, 
or  some  such  ridiculous  nonsense,  and  I  don't  regret  it ;  I  mean, 
I  am  willing  to  stand  by  it ;  but  that  is  not  enough  for  her,  and 
I  can  look  forward  to  nothing  but  a  perpetual  series  of  differ- 
ences and  quarrels.  She  expects  me  to  play  Harry  Thornhill 
off  the  stage,  I  suppose." 

Mangan  looked  at  him  for  some  time. 

"Even  between  friends,"  he  said,  slowly,  "there  are  some 
things  it  is  difficult  to  talk  about  with  safety.  Of  course  you 
know  what  an  outsider  would  say  :  that  you  had  got  into  a 
devil  of  a  mess ;  that  you  had  blundered  into  an  engagement 
with  a  woman  whom  you  find  you  don't  want  to  marry." 

"  Well,  is  there  anything  uncommon   in  that  ?"  Lionel  de- 


356  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS, 

manded.  "  Is  that  an  unusual  experience  in  human  life  ?  But 
I  don't  admit  as  much,  in  my  case.  I  am  quite  willing  to  marry 
her,  so  long  as  she  keeps  her  temper,  and  doesn't  expect  me  to 
play  the  fool,  I  dare  say  we  shall  get  on  well  enough,  like  other 
people,  after  the  fateful  deed  is  done.  In  the  meantime,"  he 
added,  with  a  forced  laugh — "  in  the  meantime,  I  find  myself  now 
and  again  wishing  I  was  a  sailor  brave  and  bold,  careering  round 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  in  a  gale  of  wind,  and  with  no  loftier 
aspiration  in  my  mind  than  a  pint  of  rum  and  a  well-filled 
pipe." 

"  Faith,  I  think  that's  just  where  you  ought  to  be,"  said  Man- 
gan,  dryly,  "  instead  of  in  this  town  of  London,  at  the  present 
moment.  I  declare  you've  quite  bewildered  me.  If  you  had 
told  me  you  were  engaged  to  that  tall  salmon-fishing  girl — you 
used  to  talk  about  her  a  good  deal,  you  know — or  to  that  fasci- 
natmg  young  Italian  creature — and  I've  seen  before  now  how 
easily  the  gentle  friend  and  companion  can  be  transformed  into 
a  sweetheart — I  should  have  been  ready  with  all  kinds  of  pretty 
speeches  and  good  wishes.  But  Miss  Burgoyne  of  the  New 
Theatre  ?  Linn,  my  boy,  I've  discovered  what's  the  matter  with 
you,  and  I  can  prescribe  an  absolutely  certain  cure." 

"  What  is  it  ?" 

"  The  cure  ?  You  have  partly  suggested  it  yourself.  You 
must  go  at  once  and  take  your  passage  in  a  sailing  ship  for 
Australia.  You  can  stay  there  for  a  time  and  examine  the  col- 
ony ;  of  course  you'll  write  a  book  about  it,  like  everybody  else. 
Then  you  make  your  way  to  San  Francisco,  and  accept  a  three- 
months'  engagement  there.  You  come  on  to  New  York,  and 
accept  a  three-months'  engagement  there.  And  when  you  re- 
turn to  England  you  will  find  that  all  your  troubles  have  van- 
ished, and  that  you  are  once  again  the  Linn  Moore  we  all  of  us 
used  to  know." 

A  wild  fancy  flashed  through  Lionel's  brain  ;  what  if  in  these 
far  wanderings  he  were  suddenly  to  encounter  Nina?  In  vain 
— in  vain ;  Nina  had  become  for  him  but  a  shadow,  a  ghost, 
with  no  voice  to  call  to  him  from  any  sphere. 

"  You  would  have  me  run  away  ? — I  don't  sec  how  I  can 
do  that,"  he  said,  quietly  ;  and  then  he  abruptly  changed  the 
subject.     "What  did  you  think  of  Lady  Adela?" 

"  Well,  to  tell  you  the  truth,  I've  been  wondering  whether  she 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  357 

were  at  the  same  time  a  smart  and  clever  woman  and  an  abject 
fool,  or  whether  she  were  simply  smart  and  clever  and  thou«:fht 
me  an  abject  fool.  It  must  be  either  one  or  the  other.  She 
played  the  literary  ingenue  very  well — a  little  too  openly,  per- 
haps.    I'm  curious  about  her  book — " 

"  Oh,  don't  judge  of  her  by  her  book !"  Lionel  exclaimed. 
"  That  isn't  fair.  Her  book  you  may  very  likely  consider  fool- 
ish— not  at  all.  I  suppose  her  head  is  a  little  bit  turned  by  the 
things  that  Quirk  and  those  fellows  have  been  writing  about 
her;  but  that's  only  natural.  And  if  she  showed  her  hand  a 
little  too  freely  in  trying  to  interest  you  in  her  novel,  you  must 
remember  how  eager  she  is  to  succeed.  You'll  do  what  you  can 
for  her  book — won't  you,  Maurice  ?" 

Maurice  Mangan,  on  his  way  home  that  night,  had  other 
things  to  think  of  than  Lady  Adela's  poor  little  book.  Ue  saw 
clearly  enough  the  embroilment  into  which  Lionel  had  landed 
himself ;  but  he  could  not  see  so  clearly  how  he  was  to  get  out 
of  it.  One  question  he  forgot  to  ask :  what  had  induced  that 
mood  of  petulance  or  recklessness,  or  both  combined,  in  which 
Lionel  had  wilfully  and  madly  pledged  all  his  future  life  ? 
However,  the  thing  was  done ;  here  was  his  friend  going  for- 
ward to  a  mariage  de  cbnvenance  (where  there  was  very  little  con- 
venances to  be  sure)  with  a  sort  of  careless  indifference,  if  not  of 
bravado ;  while  his  bride,  on  the  other  hand,  might  surely  be 
pardoned  if  she  resented,  and  indignantly  resented,  his  attitude 
towards  her.  "What  kind  of  prospect  was  this  for  two  young 
people  ?  Maurice  thought  that  on  the  very  first  opportunity  he 
would  go  away  down  to  Winstead  and  talk  the  matter  over  with 
Francie ;  who  than  she  more  capable  of  advising  in  aught  con- 
cerning Lionel's  welfare  ? 

Notwithstanding  his  intercession  with  Maurice  on  behalf  of 
Lady  Adela's  forthcoming  novel,  Lionel  did  not  seem  disposed 
to  resume  the  friendly  relations  with  the  people  up  at  Campden 
Hill  which  had  formerly  existed.  He  did  not  even  call  after 
the  dinner-party.  If  Mr.  Octavius  Quirk  were  for  the  moment 
installed  as  chief  favorite,  he  had  no  wish  to  interfere  with 
him ;  there  were  plenty  of  other  houses  open,  if  one  chose  to 
go.  But  the  fact  is,  Lionel  now  spent  many  afternoons  and 
nearly  every  evening  at  the  Garden  Club ;  whist  before  din- 
ner, poker   after   supper,  being    the    established   rule.      More- 


358  PRINCE    FOKTUNATUS. 

over,  a  new  element  had  been  introduced,  as  far  as  he  was 
concerned.  Mr.  Percival  Miles  had  been  elected  a  member  of 
the  club,  and  had  forthwith  presented  himself  in  the  card-room, 
where  he  at  once  distinguished  himself  by  his  bold  and  intrepid 
play.  The  curious  thing  was  that,  while  openly  professing  a 
kind  of  cold  acquaintanceship,  it  was  invariably  against  Lionel 
Moore  that  he  made  his  most  determined  stand ;  with  the  other 
players  he  might  play  an  ordinarily  discreet  and  cautious  game  ; 
but  when  Moore  could  be  challenged,  this  pale-faced  young  man 
never  failed  promptly  to  seize  the  opportunity.  And  the  worst 
of  it  was  that  he  had  extraordinary  luck,  both  in  the  run  of  the 
cards  and  in  his  manoeuvres. 

"  What  is  that  young  whipper-snapper  up  to  ?"  Lionel  said  to 
himself,  after  a  particularly  bad  night  (and  morning)  as  he  sat 
staring  into  the  dead  ashes  of  his  fireplace.  "  He  wanted  to 
take  my  life — until  my  good  angel  interfered  and  saved  me. 
Now  does  he  want  to  break  me  financially  ?  By  Jove !  they're 
coming  near  to  doing  it  among  them.  I  shall  have  to  go  to 
Moss  to-morrow  for  another  £250.  Well,  what  does  it  matter? 
The  luck  must  turn  some  time.  If  it  doesn't  ? — if  it  doesn't  ? — 
then  there  may  come  the  trip  before  the  mast,  as  the  final  pan- 
acea, according  to  Maurice.  Australia? — thepe  would  be  free- 
dom there,  and  perhaps  forgetfulness." 

As  he  was  passing  into  his  bedroom  he  chanced  to  observe  a 
package  that  was  lying  on  a  chair,  and  for  a  second  he  glanced 
at  the  handwriting  of  the  address.  It  was  Miss  Burgoyne's. 
Wliat  could  she  want  with  him  now?  He  cut  the  string,  and 
opened  the  parcel;  behold,  here  was  the  brown -and -scarlet 
woollen  vest  that  she  had  knitted  for  him  with  her  own  fair 
hands.  Why  these  impatiently  down-drawn  brows?  A  true 
lover  would  have  passionately  kissed  this  tender  token  of  affec- 
tion, and  bethought  him  of  all  the  hours  and  half-hours  and 
quarters  of  an  hour  during  which  she  had  been  employed  in  her 
pretty  task,  no  doubt  thinking  of  him  all  the  time.  Alas !  the 
love-gift  was  almost  angrily  thrown  on  to  the  chair  again — and 
he  went  into  his  own  room. 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  359 


CHAPTER  XX 11. 

PRIUS     DEMENTAT. 

When  Maurice  Mangan  left  tlie  train  at  Winstead,  and 
climbed  out  of  the  deep  chalk  cutting  in  which  the  station  is 
buried,  and  emerged  upon  the  open  downs,  he  found  himself  in 
a  very  different  world  from  thai  he  had  left.  Far  away  behind 
him  lay  the  great  city  (even  now  the  dusky  dome  of  St.  Paul's 
was  visible  across  the  level  swathes  of  landscape),  with  its  miry 
ways  and  teeming  population  and  continuous  thunder  of  traf- 
fic ;  while  here  were  the  windy  skies  of  a  wild  March  morning 
and  swaying  trees  and  cawing  rooks  and  air  that  was  sweet  in 
the  nostrils  and  soft  to  the  throat.  As  he  light-heartedly  strode 
away  across  the  undulations  of  blossoming  gorse,  fragments  of 
song  from  his  favorite  poets  chased  one  another  through  his 
brain ;  and  somehow  they  were  all  connected  with  the  glad 
opening  out  of  the  year — "  And  then  my  heart  with  pleasure 
fills,  and  dances  with  the  daffodils  " — "  Along  the  grass  sweet 
airs  are  blown,  our  way  this  day  in  spring" — "And  in  the 
gloaming  o'  the  wood,  the  throssil  whistled  sweet " —  Mangan 
could  sing  no  more  than  a  crow  ;  but  he  felt  as  if  he  were  sing- 
ing ;  there  was  a  kind  of  music  in  the  long  stride,  the  quick 
pulse,  the  deep  inhalations  of  the  delicious  air.  For  all  was 
going  to  be  well  now ;  he  was  about  to  consult  Francie  as  to 
Lionel's  sad  estate.  He  did  not  stay  to  ask  himself  whether  it 
were  likely  that  a  quiet  and  gentle  girl,  living  in  this  secluded 
neighborhood,  could  be  of  much  help  in  such  a  matter ;  it  was 
enough  that  he  was  going  to  talk  it  all  over  with  Miss  Francie ; 
things  would  be  clearer  then. 

Now,  as  you  go  up  from  Winstead  Station  to  Winstead  Vil- 
lage, there  is  a  strip  of  coppice  that  runs  parallel  with  one  part 
of  the  highway ;  and  through  this  prolonged  dingle  a  pathway 
meanders,  which  he  who  is  not  in  a  hurry  may  prefer  to  the 
road.     Of  course  Mangan  chose  this  plcasantcr  way,  though  he 


360  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

had  to  moderate  his  pace  now  because  of  the  hriars ;  and  right  glad 
was  he  to  notice  the  various  symptoms  of  the  new-born  life  of 
the  world — the  pale  anemones  stirred  by  the  warm,  moist  breeze, 
the  delicate  blossoms  of  the  little  wood-sorrel,  the  budded  ra- 
ceme of  the  wild  hyacinth ;  while  loud  and  clear  a  blackbird 
sang  froVn  a  neighboring  bough.  He  did  not  expect  to  meet 
any  one;  he  certainly  did  not  expect  to  meet  Miss  Francie 
Wright,  who  would  doubtless  be  away  at  her  cottages.  But  all 
of  a  sudden  he  was  startled  by  the  apparition  of  a  rabbit  that 
came  running  towards  him,  and  then,  seeing  him,  bolted  off  at 
right  angles ;  and  as  this  caused  him  to  look  up  from  his  bot- 
ani zings,  here,  unmistakably,  was  Miss  Francie,  coming  along 
through  the  glade.  Her  pale  complexion  showed  a  little  color 
'as  she  drew  near ;  but  there  was  not  much  embarrassment  in 
thfc  calm,  kind  eyes. 

"  This  is  indeed  a  stroke  of  good-fortune,"  he  said,  "  for  I 
came  down  for  the  very  purpose  of  having  a  talk  with  you  all 
by  yourself — about  Lionel.  But  I  did  not  imagine  I  should 
meet  you  here." 

"  I  am  going  down  to  the  station,"  she  said.  "  I  expect  a  par- 
cel by  the  train  you  must  have  come  by  ;  and  I  want  it  at  once." 

"  May  I  go  with  you  and  carry  it  for  you  ?"  he  said, 
promptly  ;  and  of  course  she  could  not  refuse  so  civil  an  offer. 
The  awkward  part  of  the  arrangement  was  that  they  had  to  go 
along  through  this  straggling  strip  of  wood  in  single  file,  mak- 
ing a  really  confidential  chat  almost  an  impossibility  ;  whereupon 
he  proposed,  and  she  agreed,  that  they  should  get  out  into  the 
highway ;  and  thereafter  they  went  on  to  the  station  by  the  or- 
dinary road. 

But  this  task  he  had  undertaken  proved  to  be  a  great  deal 
more  difficult  and  delicate  than  lie  had  anticipated.  To  have  a 
talk  with  Francie — that  seemed  simple  enough  ;  it  was  less  sim- 
ple, as  he  discovered,  to  have  to  tell  Lionel's  cousin  that  the 
young  man  had  gone  and  engaged  himself  to  be  married.  Li- 
deed,  he  beat  about  the  bush  for  a  considerable  time. 

"  You  see,"  he  said,  "  a  young  fellow  at  his  time  of  life,  es- 
pecially if  he  has  been  petted  a  good  deal,  is  very  apt  to  be 
wayward  and  restless,  and  likely  to  get  into  trouble  through  the 
mere  impulsiveness,  the  recklessness  of  youth—" 

"Mr.  Maiigan,"  Miss  Fr.-nn'ic  said,  with  a  smile  in  the  quiet 


PKINCE    FORTUNATUS.  3(;i 

gray  eyes,  "  wliy  do  you  always  talk  of  Linn  as  if  he  were  so 
much  younger  than  you  ?  There  is  no  great  diflference.  You 
always  speak  as  if  you  were  quite  middle-aged." 

"  I  am  worse  than  middle-aged — I  am  resigned,  and  read 
Marcus  Aurelius,"  he  said.  "  I  suppose  I  have  taken  life  too 
easily.  Youth  is  the  time  for  fighting  ;  there  is  no  fight  left  in 
me  at  all ;  I  accept  what  happens.  Oh,  by  the  way,  when  my 
book  on  Comte  comes  out,  I  may  have  to  buckle  on  my  armor 
again  ;  I  suppose  there  wall  be  strife  and  war  and  deadly  thrusts ; 
unless,  indeed,  the  Positivists  may  not  consider  me  worth  an- 
swering. However,  that  is  of  no  consequence ;  it's  about  Linn 
I  have  come  down ;  and  really.  Miss  Francie,  I  fear  he  is  in  a 
bad  way,  and  that  he  is  taking  a  worse  way  to  get  out  of  it." 

"  I  am  very  sorry  to  hear  that,"  she  said,  gravely. 

"  And  then  he's  such  a  good  fellow,"  Mangan  continued. 
"  If  he  were  selfish  or  cruel  or  grasping,  one  might  think  that 
a  few  buffets  from  the  world  might  rather  be  of  service  to  him ; 
but  as  it  is  I  don't  understand  at  all  how  he  has  got  himself  into 
such  a  position — or  been  entrapped  into  it ;  you  see,  I  don't 
know  Miss  Burgoyne  very  well — " 

"  Miss  Burgoyne  ?"  she  repeated,  doubtfully. 

"  Miss  Burgoyne  of  the  New  Theatre." 

Then  Mangan  watched  his  companion,  timidly  and  furtively — 
which  was  a  strange  thing  for  him,  for  ordinarily  his  deep-set 
gray  eyes  were  singularly  intense  and  sincere. 

"  Perhaps  I  ought  to  tell  you  at  once,"  he  said,  slowly,  "  that 
— that — the  fact  is,  Lionel  is  engaged  to  be  married  to  Miss  Bur- 
goyne." 

"  Lionel — engaged  to  be  married  ?"  she  said,  quickly,  and  she 
looked  up.  He  met  her  eyes  and  read  them ;  surely  there  was 
nothing  there  otlier  than  a  certain  pleased  curiosity ;  she  had 
forgotten  that  this  engagement  might  be  the  cause  of  her  cous- 
in's trouble ;  she  only  seemed  to  think  it  odd  that  Linn  was 
about  to  be  married. 

*'  Yes ;  and  now  I  am  afraid  he  regrets  his  rashness,  and  is  in 
terrible  trouble  over  it — or  perhaps  that  is  only  one  of  several 
things.  Well,  I  had  made  other  forecasts  for^im,"  Mangan 
went  on  to  say,  with  a  little  hesitation.  "  I  could  have  imagined 
another  future  for  him.  Indeed,  at  one  time,  I  thought  that  if 
ever  he  looked  out  for  a  wife  it  would  be — a  little  nearer  home — " 
IG 


362  PRINCE    FORTUNATCS. 

Her  eyes  were  swiftly  downcast ;  but  the  next  instant  she  had 
bravely  raised  them  and  was  regarding  him. 

"  Do  you  mean  me,  Mr.  Mangan  ?"  she  asked. 

He  did  not  answer ;  he  left  her  to  understand.  Miss  Francie 
shook  her  head,  and  there  was  a  slight  smile  on  her  lips, 

"  No,  no,"  she  said.  ''  That  was  never  possible  at  any  time. 
Where  was  your  clear  sight,  Mr.  Mangan  ?  Of  course  I  am  very 
fond  of  Linn  ;  I  have  been  so  all  my  life  ;  and  there's  nothing  I 
wouldn't  do  to  save  him  trouble  or  pain.  But  even  a  stupid 
country  girl  may  form  her  ideal — and  in  my  case  Lionel  nev- 
er came  anywhere  near  to  that.  I  know  he  is  good  and  gen- 
erous and  manly — he  is  quite  wonderful,  considering  what  he  has 
come  through ;  but  on  the  other  hand — well — oh,  well,  I'm  not 
going  to  say  anything  against  Linn — I  will  not." 

"  I  am  sure  you  will  not,"  said  Mangan,  quietly  ;  and  here 
they  reached  the  station. 

The  parcel  had  not  arrived ;  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to 
retrace  their  steps;  and  on  their  way  across  the  common  they 
returned  to  Lionel  and  his  wretched  plight. 

"  Surely,"  said  Miss  Francie,  with  a  touch  of  indignation  in 
her  voice — "  surely,  if  Miss  Burgoyne  learns  that  be  is  fretting 
over  this  engagement,  she  will  release  him  at  once.  No  woman 
could  be  so  shameless  as  to  keep  him  to  an  unwilling  bar- 
gain—" 

"  I  am  not  so  sure  about  that,"  Mangan  made  answer.  "  She 
may  think  she  has  affection  for  two,  and  that  all  will  be  well. 
It  is  a  good  match  for  her.  His  position  in  his  profession  and  in 
society  will  be  advantageous  to  her.  Then  she  may  be  vain  of 
her  conquest — so  many  different  motives  may  come  in.  But 
the  chief  point  is  that  Linn  doesn't  want  to  be  released  from 
this  engagement;  he  declares  he  will  abide  by  it — if  only  she 
doesn't  expect  him  to  be  very  affectionate.  It  is  an  extraordi- 
nary imbroglio  altogether;  I  am  beginning  to  believe  that  all 
the  time  he  has  been  in  love  with  that  Italian  girl  whom  he 
knew  in  Naples,  and  who  was  in  the  New  Theatre  for  a  while, 
and  that  now  he  has  made  the  discovery,  when  it  is  too  late,  he 
doesn't  care  what  happens  to  him.  She  has  gone  away  ;  he  has 
no  idea  where  she  is  ;  here  he  is  engaged  to  Miss  Burgoyne,  and 
quite  willing  to  marry  her ;  and  in  the  meantime  he  plays  cards 
heavily  to  escape  from  thinking.     In  fact,  he  is  not  taking  the 


PRINCE    F0RTUNATU8.  3(}3 

least  care  of  himself,  and  you  would  be  surprised  at  the  change 
in  his  appearance  already.  It  isn't  like  Linn  Moore  to  talk  of 
going  to  bed  when  he  ought  to  be  setting  out  for  a  dinner-party  ; 
and  the  worst  of  it  is,  he  won't  pay  any  heed  to  what  you  say 
to  him.  But  something  must  be  done ;  Linn  is  too  good  a  fel- 
low to  be  allowed  to  go  to  the  mischief  without  some  kind  of 
protest  or  interference." 

'*  If  you  like,"  said  Miss  Francie,  slowly,  *'  I  will  go  to  Miss 
Burgoyne.  She  is  a  woman ;  she  could  not  but  listen.  She 
cannot  want  to  bring  misery  on  them  both." 

"  No,"  said  he,  with  a  little  show  of  authority.  "  Whatever 
we  may  try — not  that.  I  have  heard  that  Miss  Burgoyne  has  a 
bit  of  a  temper." 

"  I  am  not  afraid,"  said  his  companion,  simply. 

"  No,  no.  If  that  were  the  only  way,  I  should  propose  to  go 
to  Miss  Burgoyne  myself,"  he  said.  "  But,  you  see,  the  awk- 
ward thing  is  that  neither  you  nor  I  have  any  right  to  appeal  to 
her,  so  long  as  Linn  is  willing  to  fulfil  the  engagement.  We 
don't  know  her ;  we  could  not  remonstrate  as  a  friend  of  her  own 
might.  If  we  were  to  interfere  on  his  behalf,  she  would  imme- 
diately turn  to  him ;  and  he  is  determined  not  to  back  out." 

"  Then  what  is  to  be  done,  Mr.  Mangan  ?"  she  exclaimed,  in 
despair. 

"  I — I  don't  quite  see  at  present,"  he  answered  her.  "  I  thought 
I  would  talk  it  over  with  you.  Miss  Francie.  I  thought  there 
might  be  something  in  that ;  that  the  way  might  seem  clearer. 
But  I  see  no  way  at  all,  unless  you  were  to  go  to  him  yourself. 
lie  would  listen  to  you.  Or  he  might  even  listen  to  me,  if  I 
represented  to  him  that  you  were  distressed  at  the  condition  of 
affairs.  At  present  he  doesn't  appear  to  care  what  happens  to 
him." 

They  had  crossed  the  common ;  they  had  come  to  the  foot  of 
the  wood ;  and  they  did  not  go  on  to  the  highway,  for  Miss 
Francie  suggested  that  the  sylvan  path  was  the  more  interest- 
ing. And  so  they  passed  in  among  the  trees,  making  their  way 
through  the  straggling  undergrowth,  while  the  soft  March  wind 
blew.pioist  and  sweet  all  around  them,  and  the  blackbirds  and 
thrushes  tilled  the  world  with  their  silver  melody,  and  in  the 
more  distant  woods  the  ringdoves  crooned.  Maurice  Mangan 
followed  her — in  silence.     Perhaps  he  was  thinking  of  Lionel ; 


Stii  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

perhaps  he  was  thinking  of  the  confession  she  had  made  in  cross- 
ing the  common  ;  at  all  events,  he  did  not  address  her ;  and  when 
she  stooped  to  gather  some  hyacinths  and  anemones  he  merely 
waited  for  her.  But  as  they  drew  near  to  the  farther  end  of 
the  coppice  the  path  became  clearer,  and  now  he  walked  by  her 
side. 

"  Miss  Francie,"  he  said  (and  it  was  his  eyes  that  were  cast 
down  now),  "  you  were  speaking  of  the  ideals  that  girls  in  the 
country  may  form  for  themselves — and  girls  everywhere,  I  dare 
say ;  but  don't  you  think  it  rather  hard  ?" 

"  What  is  ?" 

"  Why,  that  you  should  raise  up  an  impossible  standard,  and 
that  poor  common  human  beings,  with  all  their  imperfections 
and  disqualifications,  are  sent  to  the  right  about." 

"  Oh,  no,"  Miss  Francie  said,  cheerfully.  "  You  don't  under- 
stand at  all.  A  girl  does  not  form  her  ideal  out  of  her  own  head. 
She  is  not  clever  enough  to  do  that ;  or,  rather,  she  is  not  stupid 
enough  to  try  to  do  that.  She  takes  her  ideal  from  some  one 
she  knows — from  the  finest  type  of  character  she  has  met ;  so 
that  it  is  not  an  impossible  standard,  for  one  person,  at  least, 
has  attained  to  it." 

"  And,  for  the  sake  of  that  one,  she  discards  all  those  unfort- 
unates who,  by  their  age  or  appearance  or  lack  of  position  or 
lack  of  distinction,  cannot  hope  to  come  near,"  he  said,  rather 
absently.  "  Isn't  that  hard  ?  It  makes  all  sorts  of  things  so 
hopeless,  so  impossible.  You  put  your  one  chosen  friend  on 
this  pedestal ;  and  then  all  the  others,  who  might  wish  to  win 
your  regard,  they  know  what  the  result  of  comparison  would  be, 
and  they  go  away  home  and  hide  their  heads." 

"  I  don't  see,  Mr.  Mangan,"  she  said,  in  a  somewhat  low  voice, 
and  yet  a  little  proudly  too,  "  why  you  should  fear  comparison 
with  any  one — no,  not  with  any  one ;  or  imagiue  that  anything 
could — could  displace  you  in  the  regard  of  your  friends." 

He  hesitated  again — anxious,  eager,  and  yet  afraid.  At  last 
he  said,  rather  sadly, 

"  I  wish  I  knew  something  of  your  ideals,  and  how  far  away 
beyond  liuman  possibility  they  arc." 

"()l),  1  can  tell  yuii,"  she  said,  ])]uckiiig  np  heart  of  grace, 
for  here  was  an  easy  way  out  of  an  embarrassing  position.  "  My 
ideal  woman  is  Sister  Alexandra,  of  the  East  London  Hospital. 


"And  when  she  stooped  to  gather  some  hyaeinths  and  anemones  he 
merely  waited  for  1ier" 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  3tj5 

She  was  down  here  last  Sunday — sweeter,  more  angelic  than 
ever.  That  is  the  noblest  type  of  woman  I  know.  And  I  was 
so  glad  she  enjoyed  her  rare  holiday ;  and  when  she  went  away 
in  the  evening  we  had  her  just  loaded  with  flowers  for  her  ward." 

"  And  the  ideal  man  ?" 

"  Oh,"  said  Miss  Francie,  hurriedly,  "  I  hardly  know  about  that. 
Of  course,  when  I — when  I  spoke  of  Linn  a  little  while  ago,  I 
did  not  wish  to  say  anything  against  him — certainly  not — no  one 
admires  his  better  qualities  more  than  I  do — but — but  there  may 
be  other  qualities — " 

They  were  come  to  the  wooden  gate  opening  on  to  the  high- 
way ;  he  paused  ere  he  lifted  the  latch. 

"  Francie,"  said  he,  "  do  you  think  that  some  day  you  might 
be  induced  to  put  aside  all  your  high  standards  and  ideals,  and 
— and — in  short,  accept  a  battered  old  journalist,  without  money, 
position,  distinction,  without  any  graces,  except  this,  that  grat- 
itude might  add  something  to  his  affection  for  you  ?" 

Tears  sprang  into  her  eyes,  and  yet  there  was  a  smile  there, 
too  ;  she  was  not  wholly  frightened — perhaps  she  had  known  all 
along. 

"Ah,  and  you  don't  understand  yet,  Maurice !"  she  said,  and 
she  frankly  gave  him  her  hand,  and  her  eyes  were  kind  even 
through  her  tears.  "  You  don't  understand  what  I  have  been 
saying  to  you,  that  a  girl's  ideal  is  one  particular  person — her 
ideal  is  the  man  or  woman  whom  she  admires  and  loves  the 
most.     Can  you  not  guess  ?" 

"  Francie,  you  will  be  my  wife  ?"  he  said  to  her,  drawing  her 
closer  to  him,  his  hands  clasped  round  her  head. 

She  did  not  answer.  She  was  silent  for  a  second  or  two.  And 
then  she  said,  with  averted  eyes, 

"  You  spoke  of  gratitude,  Maurice.  I  know  who  has  the  most 
reason  to  be  grateful — and  who  will  try  the  hardest  to  show  it." 

So  that  betrothal  was  completed ;  and  when  they  passed  out 
from  the  coppice  into  the  whiter  air,  behold !  the  wild  March 
skies  had  parted  somewhat,  and  there  was  a  shinnner  of  silver 
sunlight  along  the  broad  highway  between  the  hedges.  It  was 
an  auspicious  omen — or,  at  least,  their  full  hearts  may  have 
thought  so ;  and  then,  again,  there  was  a  wedding  chorus  all 
around  them  from  the  birds — from  the  bright-eyed  robin  perched 
on  the  crimson  bramble-spray ;  from  the  speckled  thrush  on  the 


366  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

swaying  elm ;  from  the  lark  far-hovering  over  a  field  of  young 
corn.  But  in  their  own  happiness  they  had  thought  of  others ; 
Francie  soon  came  back  to  Lionel  again  and  his  grievous  mis- 
fortunes ;  and  she  was  listening  with  meekness  to  this  tall,  clear- 
eyed  man,  who  could  now  claim  a  certain  gentle  authority  over 
her.  They  were  a  long  time  before  they  got  to  the  doctor's 
house. 

That  same  evening  Miss  Kate  Burgoyne  invited  Lionel  to  come 
to  her  room  for  a  cup  of  tea  when  he  had  dressed  for  the  last 
act ;  and  accordingly,  when  he  was  ready,  he  strolled  along  the 
corridor,  rapped  with  his  knuckles,  and  entered.  It  turned  out 
that  the  prima-donna  had  other  visitors  :  a  young  lady  whom  he 
had  never  seen  before  and  Mr.  Percival  Miles.  The  young  gen- 
tleman, in  faultless  evening  dress,  seemed  a  little  surprised  at 
the  easy  manner  in  which  Lionel  had  lounged  into  the  place ; 
and  perhaps  Lionel  was  also  a  little  surprised — for  this  was  Mr. 
Miles's  first  appearance  m  the  room  ;  but  each  man  merely  nod- 
ded to  the  other,  in  a  formal-acquaintance  style,  as  they  were 
in  the  habit  of  doing  at  the  Garden  Club.  At  the  same  moment 
Miss  Burgoyne  opened  a  portion  of  the  curtain,  so  that  she 
could  address  her  guests. 

"  Mr.  Moore,  let  me  introduce  you  to  my  friend,  Miss  Ingram. 
Mr.  Miles  I  think  you  know." 

And  Lionel  was  glad  enough  to  turn  to  the  young  lady  and 
enter  into  conversation  with  her,  for  the  pale  young  man  with 
the  slight  yellow  moustache  was  defiantly  silent,  and  had  even 
something  fierce  about  his  demeanor.  It  was  no  business  of 
Lionel's  to  provoke  a  quarrel  with  this  truculent  fire-eater,  espe- 
cially in  Miss  Burgoyne's  room.  To  quarrel  about  Kate  Bur- 
goyne ? — the  irony  of  events  could  go  no  further  than  that. 

And  of  course,  as  the  most  immediate  topic,  they  spoke  of  the 
gale  that  had  been  blowing  across  London  all  the  afternoon  and 
evening ;  for  the  southerly  winds  that  had  prevailed  in  the 
morning  had  freshened  up  and  increased  in  violence  until  a 
veritable  hurricane  was  now  raging,  threatening  roofs,  chimneys, 
and  lamp-posts,  to  say  nothing  of  the  whirled  and  driven  and 
bewildered  foot-passengers. 

"  I  hear  there  has  been  a  bad  accident  in  Oxford  Street," 
Lionel  said  to  the  young  lady.  "  Some  scaffolding  has  fallen — 
a  lot  of  people  hurt.     I'm  afraid  there  will  be  a  sad  talc  to  tell 


PRINCE    FOUTUNATUS.  3G7 

from  the  sea ;  even  now,  while  we  are  secure  in  this  big  build- 
ing, thinking  only  of  amusement,  I  suppose  there  is  many  a  ship 
laboring  in  the  gale,  or  going  headlong  on  to  the  rocks.  Have 
you  far  to  get  home  ?"  he  asked. 

"  Oh,  I  am  going  home  with  Miss  Burgoyne,"  the  young  lady 
answered. 

But  here  Miss  Burgoyne  herself  appeared,  coming  forth  in  the 
full  splendor  of  Grace  Mainwaring's  bridal  attire  and  with  all 
her  radiant  witcheries  of  make-up,  and  the  poor  lad  sitting 
there,  who  had  never  before  been  so  near  this  vision  of  delight, 
seemed  quite  entranced  by  its  (strictly  speaking)  superhuman 
loveliness.  He  could  not  take  his  eyes  away  from  her.  lie  did 
not  think  of  joining  in  the  conversation.  He  watched  her  at 
the  mirror ;  he  watched  her  making  tea ;  he  watched  her  munch- 
ing a  tiny  piece  of  bread  and  butter  (which  was  imprudent  on 
her  part,  after  the  care  she  had  bestowed  on  her  lips) ;  and  al- 
ways he  was  silent  and  spellbound.  Miss  Burgoyne,  on  the 
other  hand,  was  talkative  enough. 

"  Isn't  it  an  awful  night !"  she  exclaimed.  "  I  thought  the 
cab  I  came  down  in  would  be  blown  over.  And  they  say  it's 
getting  worse  and  worse.  I  hear  there  has  been  a  dreadful 
accident ;  some  of  the  men  were  telling  Jane  about  it ;  have 
you  heard,  Mr.  Moore  ? — something  about  a  scaffold.  I  suppose 
this  theatre  is  safe  enough ;  I  don't  feel  any  shaking.  But  I 
tnow  I  shall  be  so  nervous  going  home  to-night — I  dread  it  al- 
ready— " 

"  Miss  Ingram  says  she  is  going  home  with  you,"  Lionel 
pointed  out,  carelessly. 

"  But  that  is  worse  !"  the  prima-donna  cried.  "  Two  women 
are  worse  than  one — they  make  each  other  nervous ;  no,  what 
you  want  is  a  man's  bluntness  of  perception — his  indifference — 
and  the  sense  of  security  you  get  from  his  being  there.  Two 
frightened  women  ;  how  are  they  going  to  keep  each  other's 
courage  up  ?" 

It  was  clearly  an  invitation  ;  almost  a  challenge.  Lionel  only 
said, 

"Why,  what  have  you  to  fear!  The  blowing  over  of  a  cab 
is  about  the  last  thing  likely  to  happen.  If  you  were  walking 
along  the  pavement,  you  might  be  struck  by  a  falling  slate ;  but 
you  are  out  in  the  middle  of  the  road.     If  you  go  home  in  a 


368  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

four-wheeled  cab,  you  will  be  as  safe  as  you  are  at  this  minute 
in  this  room." 

She  turned  away  from  him ;  at  the  same  moment  the  pale 
young  gentleman  said,  rather  breathlessly, 

"  Miss  Burgoyne,  if  you  would  permit  me  to  accompany  you 
and  Miss  Ingram  home,  I  should  esteem  it  a  great  honor — and 
— and  pleasure." 

She  whipped  round  in  an  instant. 

"  Oh,  thank  you,  Percy — Mr.  Miles,  I  mean,"  she  added,  in 
pretty  confusion.  "  That  will  be  so  kind  of  you.  We  shall  be 
delighted,  I'm  sure — very  kind  of  you  indeed." 

No  more  was  said  at  the  moment,  for  Miss  Burgoyne  had 
been  called ;  and  Lionel,  as  he  wended  his  way  to  the  wings, 
could  only  ask  himself, 

"  What  is  she  up  to  now  ?  She  calls  me  Mr.  Moore  before 
her  friends,  and  him  Percy,  and  she  contrives  to  put  him  into 
the  position  of  rescuing  two  distressed  damsels.  Well,  what 
does  it  matter  ?     I  suppose  women  are  like  that." 

But  Mr.  Percival  Miles's  accompanying  those  two  young  ladies 
through  the  storm  did  matter  to  him,  in  another  way,  and  seri- 
ously. When,  the  performance  being  over,  he  got  into  evening 
dress  and  drove  along  in  a  hansom  to  the  Garden  Club,  he  found 
there  two  or  three  of  the  young  gentlemen  who  were  in  the  habit 
of  lounging  about  the  supper-room,  glancing  at  illustrated  papers 
or  chewing  toothpicks,  until  the  time  for  poker  had  arrived. 

"  Johnny,"  he  said  to  one  of  them,  "  somehow  I  feel  awfully 
down  in  the  mouth  to-night." 

"  That's  unusual  with  you,  then,"  was  the  cheerful  reply. 
"  For  you  are  the  pluckiest  loser  I  ever  saw.  But  I  must  say 
your  luck  of  late  has  been  just  something  frightful." 

"  Well,  I'm  down  altogether — in  luck,  in  finances,  and  spirits ; 
and  I'm  going  to  pull  myself  up  a  peg.  Come  and  keep  mc 
company.  I'm  going  to  order  a  magnum  of  Pcrrier  Jouet  of 
'74,  and  I  only  want  a  glass  or  two ;  you  must  help  me  out,  or 
some  of  those  other  fellows." 

"  That's  a  pretty  piece  of  extravagance  !"  the  other  exclaimed. 
"  A  magnum — to  get  a  couple  of  glasses  out  of  it ;  like  an  otter 
taking  a  single  bite  from  a  salmon's  shoulder.  Never  mind,  old 
chap ;  I'm  in.  I  hate  champagne  at  this  time  of  night ;  but  I 
don't  want  you  to  kill  yourself." 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  :^g 

As  they  sat  at  supper,  with  this  big  bottle  before  them,  Lionel 
said, 

"  It  will  be  a  bad  thing  for  me  if  young  Miles  doesn't  show 
up  to-night." 

"  I  should  have  thoug-ht  it  would  have  been  an  excellent  thinof 
for  you  if  Miles  had  never  entered  this  club,"  his  companion  ob- 
served. 

"  That's  true,"  said  Lionel,  rather  gloomily.  "  But  my  only 
chance  now  is  to  get  some  of  ray  property  back,  and  I  can  only 
get  it  back  from  him.  You  fellows  are  no  use  to  me — not  if  I 
were  winning  all  along  the  line." 

"  Look  here,  Moore,"  said  the  young  man,  in  a  more  serious 
tone, "  you  may  say  it's  none  of  my  business ;  but  the  way  you 
and  that  fellow  Miles  have  been  going  on  is  perfectly  awful.  If 
the  committee  should  hear  about  it,  there  will  be  a  row,  and  no 
mistake  !" 

"  My  dear  boy,"  Lionel  protested,  as  he  pushed  the  unneces- 
sary bottle  to  his  neighbor,  "  the  committee  have  nothing  to 
do  with  understandings  that  are  settled  outside  the  club.  You 
don't  see  Miles  or  me  handing  checks  for  £200  or  £300  across 
the  table.  How  can  the  committee  expel  you  for  holding  up 
three  fingers  or  nodding  your  head  ?" 

"  Well,  then,  you'll  excuse  me  saying  it,  but  he's  a  young  ass, 
to  gamble  in  that  fashion,"  Johnny  remarked,  bluntly.  "  What 
fun  does  he  get  out  of  it  ?  And  it's  quite  a  new  thing  with 
him — that's  the  odd  business.  I  know  a  man  who  was  at  Mor- 
ton with  him  ;  and  certainly  Miles  got  into  a  devil  of  a  scrape 
— which  cut  short  his  career  there ;  but  it  had  nothing  to  do 
with  gambling.  He  never  was  that  way  inclined  at  all ;  it's  a 
new  development,  since  he  joined  this  club.  Well,  I  suppose  he 
can  do  what  he  likes.  The  heir  to  a  baronetcy  and  such  a  place 
as  Petmansworth  can  get  just  as  much  as  he  wants  from  the 
Jews." 

"  My  good  man,  he  doesn't  need  to  go  to  the  Jews,"  said 
Lionel,  with  grim  irony. 

"  ^\^lere  does  he  get  all  that  money  from  ?  Do  you  think  his 
father  is  fool  enough  to  encourage  him  in  such  extravagance  ? 
I  should  hope  not !  At  the  same  time  I  wish  I  had  a  father 
tarred  with  something  of  that  same  brush." 

"  Where  does  he  get  all  the  money  from  ?  So  far  he  has  got 
16* 


370  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

it  from  me,"  Lionel  said,  with  a  bit  of  a  shrug.  "  He  doesn't 
need  to  go  to  his  father,  or  to  the  Jews  either,  when  he  can 
plunder  me.  And  such  a  run  of  luck  as  he  has  had  is  simply 
astounding — " 

"  It  isn't  luck  at  all,"  the  other  interrupted.  "  It's  your  play. 
You  play  too  bold  a  game — too  bold  when  you  know  he  is  go- 
ing to  play  a  bolder.  Twice  running  he  caught  you  last  night 
bluffing  on  no  hand  at  all ;  and  I  don't  know  what  fabulous 
stakes  were  up — with  your  nods  and  signs.  It's  no  use  your 
trying  to  bluff  that  fellow.     He  won't  be  bluffed." 

"  The  thing  is  as  broad  as  it's  long,  man,"  Lionel  said,  impa- 
tiently. "  If  he  is  determined  to  see  me  every  time,  he  must  be 
caught  when  I  have  a  good  hand — it  stands  to  reason.  The 
only  thing  is  that  my  luck  has  been  so  confoundedly  bad  of  late." 

"  Yes ;  and  when  the  luck's  against  you,  you  go  betting  on 
no  hands  at  all — with  Miles  waiting  for  you !"  his  companion 
exclaimed.  "All  right;  every  man  must  play  the  game  his  own 
way.     You  don't  seem  to  have  found  it  profitable  so  far." 

"  Profitable  !"  Lionel  said,  with  a  dark  look  in  his  eyes.  "  I 
can  tell  you  I  am  in  a  tight  corner,  and  I  reckoned  on  to-night 
to  settle  it  one  way  or  the  other — not  with  you  fellows,  I  can't 
get  anything  worth  while  out  of  you,  but  with  Miles.  And 
now  he's  gone  away  home  with — " 

He  stopped  in  time ;  ladies'  names  are  not  mentioned  in  clubs 
— at  least,  not  in  such  clubs  as  the  Garden. 

"  The  odd  thing  is,"  continued  Johnny,  as  he  lit  a  cigarette, 
and  definitely  refused  to  have  any  more  of  the  wine,  "  the  ex- 
tremely odd  thing  is  that  he  doesn't  seem  to  care  to  win  from 
the  rest  of  us.  He  lets  us  share  our  modest  little  pots  as  if 
they  weren't  worth  looking  at.    It's  you  he  goes  for,  invariably." 

"  And  he's  gone  for  me  to  some  purpose,"  Lionel  said,  mo- 
rosely. "  I'm  just  about  broke — broke  five  or  six  times  over,  if 
it  comes  to  that — and  by  that  pennyworth  of  yellow  ribbon !" 

"You  needn't  call  him  names,"  said  Johnny,  as  be  lay  back 
in  his  chair,  "Upon  my  soul  I  think  Miles  is  somebody  in  dis- 
guise— a  priest — an  Inquisitor — somebody  with  a  mission — to 
punish  the  sin  of  gambling.  What  does  he  care  about  the  game  ? 
Nothing — I'll  swear  it!  lie's  only  watching  for  you.  He's  an 
avenger.     He  has  been  sent  by  some  superior  power — " 

"Then  it  must  have  been  by  the  devil,"  said  Lionel,  with  a 


PRINCE    FOUTUKATUS.  371 

sombre  expression,  "  for  he  has  got  the  devil's  own  hick  at  his 
back.  Wait  till  I  get  four  of  a  kind  when  he  is  betting  on  a  full 
hand — and  then  you'll  see  his  corpse  laid  out !"  This  was  all 
he  could  say  just  then ;  for  here  was  the  young  man  himself, 
who  must  have  come  back  from  the  Edgeware  Road  in  a  remark- 
ably swift  hansom. 

Almost  directly  there  was  an  adjournment  to  the  card-room  ; 
and  the  players  took  their  places. 

"  I  propose  we  have  in  the  joker,"*  Lionel  called  aloud,  as 
the  cards  were  dealt  for  deal. 

"  I  don't  see  the  fun  of  it,"  objected  the  young  man  who  had 
been  Lionel's  companion  at  the  supper-table.  "  You  never  know 
where  you  are  when  the  joker  is  in.     What  do  you  say.  Miles  ?" 

"  Oh,  have  it  in  by  all  means,"  Percival  Miles  said,  with  his 
eyes  fixed  on  the  table. 

And  perhaps  it  was  that  Lionel  w-as  anxious  and  nervous  (for 
much  depended  on  the  results  of  this  night's  play),  but  he  seemed 
to  feel  that  the  pale  young  man  who  sat  opposite  him  appeared 
to  be  even  more  cold  and  implacable  in  manner  than  was  usual 
with  him.  He  began  to  have  superstitious  fears  —  like  most 
gamblers.  That  was  an  uncanny  suggestion  his  recent  compan- 
ion had  put  into  his  head — that  here  was  an  avenger — a  deputed 
instrument — an  agent  to  inflict  an  awarded  punishment.  At  the 
same  time  he  tried  to  laugh  at  the  notion.  Punishment — from 
this  stripling  of  a  boy  !  It  was  a  ludicrous  idea,  to  be  sure. 
When  Lionel  had  in  former  days  accepted  his  challenge  to  fight, 
it  was  with  some  kind  of  impatient  resolve  to  teach  him  a  whole- 
some lesson  and  brush  him  aside.  And  he  had  regarded  his 
running  after  Miss  Burgoyne  with  a  sort  of  good-natured  tolera- 
tion and  contempt ;  there  were  always  those  young  fools  in  the 
wake  of  actresses.  But  that  he,  Lionel,  should  be  afraid  of  this 
young  idiot  ?  What  was  there  to  be  afraid  of  ?  He  was  no 
swashbuckler — this  pallid  youth  with  the  thin  lips,  who  concen- 
trated all  his  attention  on  the  cards,  and  had  no  word  or  jest  for 
his  neighbors.     How  could  there  be  anything  baleful  in  the  ex- 

*  Tlie  joker  is  a  fifty-third  card,  of  any  kind  of  device,  which  is  added  to 
the  pack ;  the  player  to  whom  it  is  dealt  can  make  it  any  card  he  chooses. 
For  example,  if  the  other  four  cards  he  holds  are  two  queens  and  two  sevens, 
he  can  make  the  joker  card  a  third  queen,  and  thus  secure  for  himself  a  full 
hand. 


373  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

pression  of  eyes  that  were  curiously  expressionless?  It  was  a 
pretty  face  (Lionel  had  at  one  time  thought),  but  now  it  seemed 
capable  of  a  good  deal  of  relentless  determination.  Lionel  had 
heard  of  people  shivering  when  brought  into  contact  with  the 
repellent  atmosphere  that  appeared  to  surround  a  particular  per- 
son ;  but  what  was  there  deadly  about  this  young  man  ? 

"  The  game  at  first  was  not  very  exciting,  though  now  and 
again  the  joker  played  a  merry  trick,  appearing  in  some  unex- 
pected place,  and  laying  many  a  good  hand  low.  Indeed,  it  al- 
most seemed  as  if  Lionel  had  resolved  to  recoup  himself  by 
steady  play ;  and  so  far  there  had  been  no  duel  between  him 
and  young  Miles.  That  was  not  distant,  however.  On  this  oc- 
casion Lionel,  who  was  seated  on  the  left  of  the  dealer — in  other 
words,  he  being  age — when  the  cards  were  dealt  found  himself 
with  two  pairs  in  his  hand,  aces  and  queens.  It  was  a  pretty 
show.  When  the  time  came  for  him  to  declare  his  intention, 
he  said, 

"  Well,  I'm  just  going  to  make  this  another  ten  shillings  to 
come  in." 

That  frightened  no  one ;  they  all  came  in ;  what  caused  them 
to  halt  and  reflect  was  that,  on  Lionel  being  subsequently  asked 
how  many  cards  he  wished  to  have,  he  said, 

"  None,  thank  you." 

Not  a  syllable  was  uttered  ;  there  were  surmises  too  occult  for 
words.  The  player  on  Lionel's  left  bet  an  humble  two  shillings. 
The  next  player  simply  came  in.  So  did  the  third — who  was 
Mr.  Percival  Miles.  Likewise  the  dealer ;  in  fact,  they  were  all 
prepared  to  pay  that  modest  sum  to  inspect  the  age's  hand. 
But  Lionel  wanted  a  higher  price  for  that  privilege. 

"  Vm  coming  in  with  the  little  two  shillings,"  said  he, "  and  I 
will  raise  you  a  sovereign." 

That  promptly  sent  out  the  player  on  his  left;  his  neigh- 
bor also  retired.  Not  so  the  pallid  young  man  with  the  thin 
lips. 

"  And  one  better,"  he  said,  d(!})ositing  another  sovereign. 

The  dealer  incontinently  fled.  There  only  remained  Lionel 
and  his  enemy ;  and  the  position  of  affairs  was  this — that  while 
Lionel  had  taken  no  additional  cards,  and  was  presumably  in 
possession  of  a  straight  or  a  flush  (unless  he  was  blnfling),  Miles 
liad  taken  one  card,  and  most  likely  had  got  two  pairs  (unless 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  373 

lie  was  finessing).  Two  pairs  against  two  pairs,  tlien?  But 
Lionel  had  aces  and  queens. 

"And  five  better,"  Lionel  said,  watcliing  his  enemy. 

"  And  five  better,"  said  the  younger  man,  stolidly. 

And  now  the  onlookers  altered  their  surmises.  No  one  but  a 
lunatic  would  challenge  a  player  who  had  declined  to  take  sup- 
plementary cards  unless  he  himself  had  an  exceptionally  strong 
hand,  or  unless  he  was  morally  certain  that  his  opponent  was 
bluffing.  Had  Miles  "  filled,"  then,  with  his  one  card ;  and  was 
a  straight  being  played  against  a  straight,  or  a  flush  against  a 
flush  ?  Or  had  the  stolid  young  man  started  with  fours  ?  The 
subdued  excitement  with  which  this  duel  was  now  being  regard- 
ed was  enthralling ;  they  forgot  to  protest  against  the  wild  rais- 
ing of  the  bets ;  and  when  Lionel  and  his  implacable  foe,  having 
exhausted  all  their  money,  had  recourse  of  nods — merely  mark- 
ing their  indebtedness  to  the  pool  on  a  bit  of  paper  lying  beside 
them— the  others  could  only  guess  at  the  amount  that  w^as  being 
played  for.  It  was  Lionel  who  gave  in ;  clearly  that  insatiate 
bloodsucker  was  not  to  be  shaken  oS. 

"  I  call  you." 

"  Three  nines,"  was  the  answer,  and  Miles  laid  down  on  the 
table  a  pair  of  nines  and  the  joker.  The  other  two  were  worth- 
less ;  clearly,  he  had  taken  the  one  card  as  a  blind. 

"  That  is  good  enough — take  away  the  money,"  Lionel  said, 
calmly  ;  and  the  younger  man,  with  quite  as  expressionless  a 
face,  raked  over  the  pile  of  gold,  bank-notes,  and  counters. 

There  was  a  general  sense  of  relief ;  that  strain  had  been  too 
intense. 

"  Very  magnificent,  you  know,"  said  the  player  who  was  next 
to  Lionel,  as  he  placed  his  ante  on  the  table,  "  but  it  isn't  poker. 
I  think  if  you  fix  a  limit  you  should  stick  to  it.  Have  your 
private  bets  if  you  like  ;  but  let  us  have  a  limit  that  allows  every- 
body to  see  the  fun." 

"  Oh,  certainly,  I  agree  to  that,"  Lionel  said,  at  once.  "  We 
will  keep  to  the  sovereign  limit ;  and  Mr.  Miles  and  I  will  under- 
stand well  enougli  what  we  are  betting  when  we  happen  to  play 
against  each  other." 

Thereafter  the  game  went  more  quietly,  though  Lionel  was 
clearly  playing  with  absolute  carelessness ;  no  doubt  his  com- 
panions understood  that  he  could  not  hope  to  retrieve  his  losses 


374  PRINCE     FORTUNATUS. 

in  this  moderate  play.  He  seemed  tired,  too,  and  dispirited ; 
frequently  lie  threw  up  his  cards  without  drawing — which  was 
unusual  with  him. 

"  Have  a  drink,  old  man,  to  wake  you  up  ?"  his  neighbor  said 
to  him,  about  half-past  two. 

"  No,  thanks,"  he  answered,  listlessly  looking  on  at  the  cards. 

"  A  cigarette,  then  ?" 

"  No,  thanks.  I  think  I  must  give  up  smoking  altogether — 
my  throat  isn't  quite  right." 

But  an  extraordinary  stroke  of  good-luck  aroused  him.  On 
looking  at  his  cards  he  found  he  had  been  dealt  four  aces  and  a 
ten.  Surely  the  hour  of  his  revenge  had  sounded  at  last;  for 
with  such  a  hand  he  could  easily  frighten  the  others  out,  while 
he  knew  that  Percival  Miles  would  remain  in,  if  he  had  anything 
at  all.  Accordingly,  when  it  came  to  his  turn  he  raised  before 
the  draw — raised  the  pool  a  sovereign;  and  this  caused  two  of 
the  players  to  retire,  leaving  himself,  Miles,  and  the  dealer.  He 
took  one  card — to  his  astonishment  and  concealed  delight  he 
found  it  was  the  joker.  Five  aces ! — surely  on  such  a  hand  he 
might  bet  his  furniture,  his  clothes,  his  last  cigarette.  Five  aces  ! 
— it  was  nothing  but  brute  force  ;  all  that  was  wanted  was  to  pile 
on  the  money  ;  he  could  well  afford  to  be  reckless  this  time. 
He  saw  that  Miles  also  asked  for  one  card,  and  that  the  dealer 
helped  himself  to  two ;  but  what  they  took  was  a  matter  of  su- 
preme indifference  to  him. 

It  was  Percival  Milcs's  turn  to  bet. 

*'  I  will  bet  a  sovereign,"  said  he. 

"  And  I'll  stay  in  with  you,"  remarked  the  dealer,  depositing 
the  golden  coin. 

"  One  better,"  said  Lionel. 

"  And  one  better,"  said  Miles. 

Here  the  dealer  retired,  so  that  these  two  were  left  in  as  be- 
fore— well,  not  as  before,  for  Lionel  had  five  aces  in  his  liand  ! 
And  now  they  made  no  pretence  of  kcc])ing  to  the  limit  that  liud 
been  imposed ;  their  bets  were  registered  on  the  bit  of  paper 
which  each  had  by  him  ;  and  pertinaciously  did  these  two  gladi- 
ators hack  and  slash  at  each  other.  Lionel  was  quite  reckless. 
His  enemy  had  taken  one  card.  Very  well.  Supposing  he  had 
"filled"  a  flush  or  a  straight,  so  much  the  better.  Supposing 
he   also  liad   got  fours — that,  too,  was   excellent  well  ;   for  he 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  375 

could  have  nothing  higher  than  four  kings.  Strictly  speaking, 
there  was  only  oue  hand  that  could  beat  Lionel's — a  straight 
flush ;  but  then  a  straight  flush  is  an  uncommonly  rare  thing ; 
and,  besides,  the  appearance  of  five  aces  in  one's  hand  seems  to 
convey  a  sense  of  quite  unlimited  power.  That  five  aces  are  no 
better  than  four  aces  does  not  strike  the  possessor  of  them  ;  he 
regards  the  goodly  show — and  strives  to  conceal  his  elation. 

But  even  the  onlookers,  intensely  interested  as  they  were  in 
this  fell  combat,  began  to  grow  afraid  when  they  guessed  at  the 
sum  that  was  now  in  the  imaginary  pool.  The  story  might  get 
about  the  club ;  the  committee  might  shut  up  the  card-room ; 
there  might  be  a  talk  of  expulsion.  As  for  Lionel,  he  kept  say- 
ing to  himself,  "  Well,  this  is  a  safe  thing ;  and  I  could  go  on 
all  night ;  but  I  won't  take  a  brutal  advantage.  As  soon  as  I 
think  I  have  got  back  about  what  this  young  fellow  has  already 
taken  from  me  since  he  came  into  the  club,  I  will  stop,  I  don't 
want  to  break  him.  I  don't  want  to  send  him  to  the  money- 
lenders," 

As  for  the  pale  young  man  across  the  table,  his  demeanor 
was  that  of  a  perfect  poker-player.  The  only  thing  that  could 
be  noticed  was  a  slight  contraction  of  his  pupils,  as  if  he  were 
concentrating  his  eyes  on  the  things  immediately  around  him 
and  trying  to  leave  his  face  quite  inscrutable.  There  was  no 
eagerness  in  his  betting — nor  was  there  any  affected  resignation  ; 
it  was  entirely  mechanical ;  like  clock-work  came  the  raised  and 
raised  bet, 

"  I  call  you,"  said  Lionel,  at  last,  amid  a  breathless  silence. 

Without  a  word  Percival  Miles  laid  his  cards  on  the  table, 
arranging  them  in  sequence  ;  they  were  five,  six,  seven,  eight, 
and  nine  of  clubs — not  an  imposing  hand,  certainly,  but  Lionel 
knew  his  doom  was  sealed.  He  rose  from  his  chair,  with  a  brief 
laugh  that  did  not  sound  very  natural, 

"  I  think  I  know  when  I've  had  enough,"  he  said,  "  Good- 
night 1"  And  "  Good-night !"  came  from  one  and  all  of  them — 
though  there  was  an  ominous  pause  until  the  door  was  shut  be- 
hind him. 

He  went  down  below,  to  the  supper-room,  which  was  all  de- 
serted now ;  he  drew  in  a  chair  to  a  small  writing-table  and 
took  a  sheet  of  note-paper.  On  it  he  scrawled,  with  rather  a 
feverish  hand : 


376  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  As  I  understand  it,  I  owe  you  £800  on  this  evening,  with 
£300  from  yesterday — £1100  in  all  I  will  try  to  let  you  have 
it  to-morrow.  L.  M." — and  that  he  put  in  an  envelope,  which 
he  addressed  to  "  Percival  Miles,  Esq.,"  and  sent  up-stairs  by 
one  of  the  servants.  Then  he  went  and  got  his  coat  and  hat, 
and  left.  It  was  raining  hard,  and  there  was  a  blustering  wind, 
but  he  called  no  hansom ;  the  wet  and  cold  seemed  grateful  to 
him,  for  he  was  hot  and  excited.  And  then,  somewhat  blindly, 
and  bare-throated,  he  passed  through  the  streaming  thorough- 
fares— caring  little  how  long  it  took  him  to  reach  Piccadilly. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

A     MEMORABLE     DAY. 


"...  But  do  you  know,  dear  Maurice,  that  you  propose  marrying  a  beg- 
gar ;  and,  more  than  that,  a  most  unabashed  beggar,  as  you  will  be  saying  to 
yourself  presently  ?  The  fact  is,  immediately  after  you  left  this  afternoon, 
the  post  brought  me  a  letter  from  Sister  Alexandra,  who  tells  me  that  two 
of  her  small  children,  suffering  from  hip-disease,  must  be  sent  home,  for  the 
doctors  say  they  arc  getting  no  better,  and  the  beds  in  the  ward  are  wanted. 
They  are  not  fit  to  be  sent  home,  she  writes;  then  all  tlie  country  holiday 
money  collected  last  summer  has  been  spent,  and  what  is  she  to  do?  Well, 
I  have  told  her  to  send  them  on  to  me,  and  I  shall  take  my  chance  of  find- 
ing the  £5  that  will  be  necessary.  The  fact  is,  I  happen  to  know  one  of  the 
poor  little  things — Grace  Wilson  her  name  is,  the  dearest  little  mite.  But 
the  truth  is,  dear  Maurice,  I  haven't  a  penny  ;  for  I  have  overdrawn  the  small 
allowance  that  comes  to  me  quarterly,  and  spent  it  all.  Now  don't  be  vexed 
that  I  ask  you,  so  soon,  for  a  little  help;  a  sovereign  will  do,  if  Linn  will 
give  another;  and  Linn  has  always  been  very  good  to  me  in  this  way,  though 
for  some  time  back  I  have  been  ashamed  to  take  anything  from  him.  The 
doctor  grumbles,  but  gives  me  five  shillings  whenever  I  ask  him  ;  Auntie  will 
give  me  the  same;  and  the  rest  I  can  get  from  our  friends  and  acquaint- 
ances about  here.  Don't  be  impatient  with  me,  dear  Maurice;  and  some  day 
I  will  take  you  down  to  Whitechnpel  and  show  you  the  very  prettiest  sight 
in  the  whole  world — and  that  is  Sister  Alexandra  with  her  fifty  children.  .  .  ." 

Maurice  Mangan  read  this  passage  as  he  was  driving  in  a 
hansom  along  Pall  Mall,  on  his  way  to  call  on  Lionel.  The  pre- 
vious portion  of  the  letter,  which  more  intimately  concerned 
herself  and  himself,  he  had  read  several  times  over  before  com- 
ing out,  studying  every  phrase  of  it  as  if  it  were  an  individual 
treasure,  and  trying  to  listen  for  the  sound  of  her  voice  in  every 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  377 

sentence.  And  as  for  this  more  practical  matter,  why,  although 
he  was  rather  a  poor  man,  he  thought  he  was  not  going  to  allow 
Frances  to  wander  about  in  search  of  grudging  shillings  and 
half-crowns  so  long  as  he  himself  could  come  to  her  aid  ;  so 
at  the  foot  of  St.  James  Street  he  stopped  the  hansom,  went 
into  the  telegraph-oflice,  and  sent  off  the  following  message : 
"  Five  pounds  will  reach  you  to-morrow  morning.  You  cannot 
refuse  my  first  gift  in  our  new  relationship. — Maurice."  And 
thereafter  he  went  on  to  Piccadilly — feeling  richer,  indeed, 
rather  than  poorer. 

When  he  rang  the  bell  at  Lionel's  lodgings,  it  was  with  no 
very  clear  idea  of  the  message  or  counsel  he  was  bringing  with 
him ;  but  the  news  he  now  received  put  all  these  things  out  of 
his  head.  The  house-porter  appeared,  looking  somewhat  con- 
cerned. 

"  Yes,  sir,  Mr.  Moore  is  up-stairs ;  but  Fm  afraid  he's  very 
unwell." 

"  What  is  the  matter  ?"  Maurice  asked,  instantly. 

"  He  must  have  got  wet  coming  home  last  night,  sir  ;  and  he 
has  caught  a  bad  cold.  Fve  just  been  for  Dr.  Whitsen,  and  he 
will  be  here  at  twelve." 

"  But  Dr.  Whitsen  is  a  throat  doctor." 

"  Yes,  sir ;  but  it  is  always  his  throat  Mr.  Moore  is  most  anx- 
ious about ;  and  when  he  found  himself  husky  this  morning,  he 
would  take  nothing  but  a  raw  egg  beaten  up  and  a  little  port- 
wine  negus ;  and  now  he  won't  speak — he  w  ill  only  write  on  a 
piece  of  paper.  He  is  saving  himself  for  the  theatre  to-night, 
sir,  I  think  that  is  it ;  but  would  you  like  to  go  up  and  see  him  ?" 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  will  go  up  and  see  him,"  Mangan  said  ;  and  with- 
out more  ado  he  ascended  the  stairs  and  made  his  way  into 
Lionel's  bedroom. 

He  found  his  friend  under  a  perfect  mountain  of  clothes  that 
had  been  heaped  upon  him ;  and  certainly  he  was  not  shivering 
now — on  the  contrary,  his  face  was  flushed  and  hot,  and  his  eyes 
singularly  bright  and  restless.  As  soon  as  Lionel  saw  who  this 
new-comer  was,  he  made  a  sign  that  a  block  of  paper  and  a  pen- 
cil lying  on  the  table  should  be  brought  to  him  ;  and,  turning 
slightly,  he  put  the  paper  on  the  pillow  and  wrote : 

"  Fm  nursing  my  voice — hope  to  be  all  right  by  night — arc 
you  busy  to-day,  Maurice  ?" 


378  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

'*  No  ;  there  is  no  House  on  Saturday,"  Maurice  made  answer. 

"  I  wish  you  would  stay  by  me,"  Lionel  wrote,  with  rather  a 
shaky  hand.  "  I'm  in  dreadful  trouble.  I  undertook  to  pay 
Percival  Miles  £1100  and  Lord  Rockrainster  £300  to-day  with- 
out fail ;  and  I  haven't  a  farthing,  and  don't  know  where  to  send 
or  Avhat  to  do." 

"  Oh,  never  mind  about  money  !"  Maui'ice  said,  almost  impa- 
tiently, for  there  was  something  about  the  young  man's  appear- 
ance he  did  not  at  all  like.  "  Why  should  you  worry  about  that  ? 
The  important  business  is  for  you  to  get  well." 

"  I  tell  you  I  must  pay  Rockminster  to-day,"  the  trembling 
pencil  scrawled.  "  He  was  the  only  one  of  them  who  stood  my 
friend.  I  tell  you  I  must  pay  him — if  I  have  to  get  up  and  go  out 
and  seek  for  the  money  myself." 

"  Nonsense  !"  Mangan  exclaimed.  "  What  do  people  care 
about  a  day  or  two,  when  they  hear  you  are  ill  ?  However,  you 
needn't  worry,  Linn.  As  for  that  other  sum  you  mention,  well, 
that  is  beyond  me — I  couldn't  lay  my  hands  on  it  at  once ;  but 
as  for  the  three  hundred  pounds,  I  will  lend  you  that — so  set 
your  mind  at  rest  on  that  point." 

"  And  you'll  give  it  into  Lord  Rockminster's  own  hands — this 
day  r 

"  Surely  it  will  be  quite  the  same  if  I  send  the  check  by  a  com- 
missionaire ;  he  must  get  it  sooner  or  later." 

The  earnest,  restless  eyes  looked  strangely  supplicating. 

"  Into  his  own  hands,  Maurice  !" 

"Very  well,  very  well,"  Mangan  had  just  time  to  say,  for  here 
was  the  doctor. 

Dr.  Whitsen  examined  his  patient  with  the  customary  profes- 
sional calm  and  reticence ;  asked  a  few  questions,  which  Lionel 
answered  with  such  husky  voice  as  was  left  him ;  and  then  he 
said, 

"  Yes,  you  have  caught  a  severe  chill,  and  your  system  is 
feverish  generally  ;  the  throat  is  distinctly  congested — " 

*'  But  to-night,  doctor — the  theatre — to-night !"  Lionel  broke 
in,  excitedly.     "Surely  by  eight  o'clock — " 

"  Oh,  quite  impossible  ;  not  to  be  thought  of,"  the  doctor  re- 
sponded, with  decision. 

"  Why  can't  you  do  something  to  tide  me  over,  for  the  one 
night?"  the  young  man  said,  with  appealing  and  almost  pathetic 


PRINCE    FOUTUNATUS.  379 

eyes.  "  I've  never  disappointed  the  public  once  before — never 
once ;  and  if  I  could  only  get  over  to-uight,  there's  the  long  rest 
to-morrow  and  Monday." 

"Come,  come,"  said  the  doctor,  soothingly,  "you  must  not 
excite  yourself  about  a  mere  trifle.  You  know  it  is  no  uncom- 
mon thing,  and  the  public  don't  resent  it ;  they  would  be  most 
unreasonable  if  they  did.  Singers  are  but  mortal  like  them- 
selves.   No,  no,  you  must  put  that  out  of  your  mind  altogether." 

Lionel  turned  to  Maurice. 

"  Maurice,"  he  said,  in  that  husky  voice,  and  yet  with  a  curi- 
ous, subdued  eagerness,  "  telegraph  to  Lehmann  at  once — at 
once.  Doyle  is  all  right ;  he  has  sung  the  part  often  enough. 
And  will  you  send  a  note  to  Doyle  ;  he  can  go  into  my  dressing- 
room  and  take  any  of  my  things  he  wants  ;  Lingard  has  the 
keys.  And  a  telegram  to  mother,  in  case  she  should  see  some- 
thing in  the  newspapers ;  tell  her  there  is  nothing  the  matter — 
only  a  trifling  cold — " 

"  Really,  Mr.  Moore,"  said  the  doctor,  interposing,  "  you  must 
have  a  little  care ;  you  must  calm  yourself.  I  am  sure  your 
friend  will  attend  to  all  these  matters  for  you,  but  in  the  mean- 
time you  must  exercise  the  greatest  self-control,  or  you  may  do 
your  throat  some  serious  injury.  Why  should  you  be  disturbed 
by  so  common  an  incident  in  professional  life  ?  Your  substitute 
will  do  well  enough,  and  the  public  will  greet  you  with  all  the 
greater  favor  on  your  return." 

"  It  never  happened  before,"  the  young  man  said,  in  lower 
tones.     "  I  never  had  to  give  in  before." 

"  Now  tell  me,"  Dr.  Whitsen  continued.  "  Dr.  Ballardyce  is 
your  usual  medical  attendant,  is  he  not  ?" 

"  I  know  him  very  well ;  he  is  an  old  friend  of  mine,  but  I've 
never  had  occasion  to  trouble  him  much,"  was  the  answer,  given 
with  some  greater  care  and  reserve. 

"  I  will  call  on  him  as  I  go  by,  and  if  possible  we  will  come 
down  together  in  the  afternoon,"  the  doctor  said ;  and  then 
Maurice  fetched  him  writing  materials  from  the  other  room,  and 
he  sat  down  at  the  little  table.  Before  he  went,  he  gave  some 
general  directions ;  then  the  two  friends  were  left  alone. 

Lionel  took  up  the  pencil  again,  and  turned  to  the  block  of 
paper. 

"  The  £300,  Maurice,"  his  trembling  fingers  scrawled,  show- 


380  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

ing  how  his  mind  was  still  torturing  itself  with  those  obliga- 
tions. 

*'  Oh,  that's  all  right,"  Maurice  answered,  lightly.  "  You  give 
me  Lord  Rockminster's  address,  and  I'll  take  the  check  to  him 
myself  as  soon  as  the  doctors  have  been  here  in  the  afternoon. 
Don't  you  worry  about  that,  Linn,  or  about  anything ;  for  you 
know  you  mustn't  increase  that  feverishness,  or  we  shall  have 
you  a  right-down,  bona-fide  patient  on  our  hands;  and  then  when 
will  you  get  back  to  the  theatre  again  ?  1  am  going  out  now  to 
telegraph  to  Lehmann.  But  I  don't  think  I  need  alarm  the  Win- 
stead  people ;  you  see,  they  don't  read  the  Sunday  papers  ;  and, 
indeed,  if  I  send  a  note  now  to  Francie,  she  will  get  it  the  first 
thing  in  the  morning.  Linn,"  he  continued,  after  a  moment's 
hesitation,  *'  are  you  too  much  upset  by  your  own  affairs  to  listen 
to  a  bit  of  news  ?  I  came  with  the  intention  of  telling  you, 
but  perhaps  I'd  better  wait  until  you  get  over  these  present 
troubles." 

Lionel  looked  at  him,  with  those  bright,  restless  eyes,  for  a 
second  or  two,  as  if  to  gather  something  from  his  expression  ; 
and  then  he  wrote  : 

"  Is  it  about  Francie  ?" 

Maurice  nodded  ;  it  was  enough.  Lionel  stretched  out  his 
hot  hand  and  took  that  of  his  companion. 

"  I  am  glad,"  he  said,  in  a  low  voice.  And  then,  after  a  mo- 
ment or  two's  thinking,  he  turned  to  his  writing  again  :  "  Well, 
it  is  hard,  Maurice.  I  have  been  looking  forward  to  this  for 
many  a  day,  and  have  been  wondering  how  I  should  congratulate 
you  both.  And  I  get  the  news  now — when  I'm  ruined.  I  haven't 
enough  money  even  to  buy  a  wedding-present  for  Francie  !" 

"  Do  you  think  she  will  mind  that  ?"  Mangan  said,  cheerfully. 
"  But  I'm  going  to  send  her  your  good  wishes,  Linn — now,  when 
I  write.  And  look  here,  if  she  should  come  up  to  see  you,  or 
your  father  and  mother — for  it  is  quite  possible  the  doctors  may 
insist  on  your  giving  your  voice  a  rest  for  a  considerable  while 
— well,  if  they  sliould  come  up  from  Winstead,  mind  you  say 
nothing  about  your  monetary  troubles.  They  needn't  be  men- 
tioned to  anybody,  nor  need  they  worry  you  ;  I  dare  say  I  shall 
be  able  to  get  something  more  done  ;  it  will  be  all  right.  Only, 
if  the  Winstead  people  should  come  up,  don't  you  say  anything 
to  them  about  these  monetary  affairs,  or  connect  me  with  them  ; 


PRINCE    FOKTUNATUS.  381 

for  it  miglit  put  mc  into  an  awkward  position — you  under- 
stand ?" 

And  the  last  words  Lionel  wrote  on  the  block  of  paper  he- 
fore  Mangan  went  out  to  execute  his  various  commissions  were 
these  : 

"  You  are  a  good  friend,  Maurice." 

When  the  doctors  arrived  in  the  afternoon,  Mangan  had  come 
back.  They  found  Lionel  complaining  of  acute  headache  and  a 
burning  thirst ;  his  skin  hot  and  dry  ;  pulse  full  and  quick  ;  also, 
he  seemed  drowsy  and  heavy,  though  his  eyes  retained  their 
restless  brightness.  There  could  be  no  doubt,  as  they  privately 
informed  Maurice,  he  was  in  the  first  stages  of  a  violent  fever ; 
and  the  best  thing  that  could  be  done  was  to  get  in  a  profes- 
sional nurse  at  once.  Yes,  Mr.  Mangan  might  comnmnicate 
with  his  friends  ;  his  father,  being  himself  a  doctor,  would  judge 
whether  it  were  worth  while  coming  up  just  then  ;  but,  of  course, 
it  would  be  inadvisable  to  have  a  lot  of  relations  crowding  the 
sick-room.  Obviously,  the  immediate  cause  of  the  fever  was 
the  chill  caught  on  the  previous  night,  but  there  might  have 
been  predisposing  causes ;  and  everything  calculated  to  excite 
the  mind  unduly  was  to  be  kept  away  from  him.  As  for  the 
throat,  there  were  no  dangerous  symptoms  as  yet ;  the  simple 
congestion  would  probably  disappear,  when  the  fever  abated, 
with  a  return  to  health ;  but  the  people  at  the  theatre  might  as 
well  know  that  it  would  be  a  long  time  before  Mr.  Moore  could 
return  to  his  duties.  Dr.  Ballardyce  would  see  at  once  about 
having  a  professional  nurse  sent ;  meanwhile,  quiet,  rest,  and 
the  absence  of  mental  disturbance  were  the  great  things.  And 
so  the  two  augurs  departed. 

The  moment  that  Mangan  returned  to  Lionel's  room,  the  lat- 
ter glanced  at  him  quickly  and  furtively. 

"  Are  they  gone,  Maurice  ?"  he  whispered. 

«  Yes." 

*'  And  the  check — for  Lord  Rockminstcr  ?" 

"  There  it  is,  already  drawn  out,"  was  the  answer,  as  the  slip 
of  lilac  paper  was  unfolded ;  "  but  I  can't  take  it  to  him  until 
the  nurse  comes — certainly  not." 

"  She  may  be  an  hour,  Maurice,"  Lionel  said,  restlessly.  "  I 
don't  want  anybody  to  wait  on  me.  If  you  think  it  necessary, 
call  up  Mrs.  Jenkins,  and  she  can  sit  in  the  next  room ;  the  bell 


382  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

here  is  enough.     Oh,  my  head ! — my  head  !" — and  he  turned 
away,  wearily. 

Maurice  saw  well  enough  that  he  would  never  rest  until  this 
money  was  paid,  so  he  called  up  the  house-porter's  wife  and 
gave  her  some  instructions,  and  forthwith  set  ofiE  for  the  ad- 
dress in  Palace  Gardens  Terrace  which  Lionel  had  given  him. 
When  he  arrived  there,  he  was  informed  that  his  lordship  was 
not  at  home.  He  pressed  his  inquiries;  he  said  his  business 
was  of  the  utmost  importance  ;  and  at  last  he  elicited,  after  con- 
siderable waiting,  that,  though  no  one  in  the  house  could  say 
whither  Lord  Rockminster  had  gone,  it  was  understood  that  he 
was  dining  at  the  Universities  Club  that  evening.  With  this 
information  Mangan  returned  to  Piccadilly.  He  found  the  nurse 
already  arrived  and  installed.  He  pacified  Lionel  with  the 
news  ;  for,  if  he  went  along  to  the  Universities  Club  at  half -past 
eight,  he  must  surely  be  able  to  place  the  money  in  Lord  Rock- 
minster's  own  hands. 

"  Maurice,  you're  awfully  kind,"  his  friend  murmured.  "And 
you've  had  nothing  to  eat  all  day.  Tell  Mrs.  Jenkins  to  get 
you  something — " 

"  Oh,  that's  all  right,"  Mangan  said,  carelessly.  "  I'll  just 
scribble  a  line  to  Francie,  to  tell  her  what  the  doctors  have 
said  ;  and  I'll  take  that  down  to  the  post  myself.  Then  I'll 
get  something  to  eat  and  come  back  here ;  and  at  half-past 
eight  I'm  going  along  to  Pall  Mall,  where  I'm  certain  to  catch 
Lord  Rockminster — so  that  it's  all  quite  right  and  straight, 
you  see." 

But,  as  it  chanced,  when  he  went  along  to  the  Universities  that 
evening,  he  found  he  had  missed  his  man — by  only  a  minute  or 
two.  He  was  surprised  and  troubled;  he  knew  how  Lionel 
would  fret.  The  hall-porter  did  not  know  whither  Lord  Rock- 
minster liad  gone  ;  that  is  to  say,  he  almost  certainly  did  know, 
but  it  was  not  his  business  to  tell.  Luckily,  at  this  same  mo- 
ment, there  was  a  young  fellow  leaving  the  club,  and,  as  he  was 
lighting  his  cigar,  he  heard  Maurice's  inquiries — and  perhaps 
was  rather  struck  by  his  appearance,  which  was  certainly  not 
that  of  a  sheriffs  officer. 

"  T  think  T  can  tell  you  where  they  have  gone,  sir,"  said  the 
young  man,  good-naturedly.  "  Some  of  them  had  an  early  din- 
ner to-night,  to  go  up  to  the  billiard  handicap  at  the  I'alm-Tree  ; 


I'KINCE    FOHTUNATUS.  383 

I  fancy  Lord  Rockminster  was  of  the  party,  and  that  you  will 
find  him  there." 

This  information  proved  correct.  Mangan  went  up  to  the 
Pahn-Tree  Club  in  St.  James  Street  and  sent  in  his  card. 
Almost  directly  he  was  invited  to  step  up-stairs  to  the  billiard- 
room.  Just  as  he  entered  the  door,  he  saw  Lord  Rockminster 
leave  the  raised  bench  where  he  had  been  seated  by  the  side  of 
a  very  artificial-looking  palm-tree  stem,  and  the  next  moment 
the  two  men  were  face  to  face. 

"  How  do  you  do,  Mr.  Mangan  ?"  Lord  Rockminster  said,  in 
his  usual  impassive  way.  "  You  remember  I  had  the  pleasure 
of  meeting  you  at  my  sister's.  What  is  the  matter  with  your 
friend  Mr.  Moore  ? — I  see  by  the  evening  paper  he  is  not  to  ap- 
pear to-night." 

"  He  is  far  from  well — a  chill  followed  by  a  fever,"  Mangan 
answered.    "  I  have  just  come  from  him,  with  a  message  for  you." 

"  Oh,  really,"  said  the  young  nobleman.  "  Ah,  I  dare  say  I 
know ;  but  I  assure  you  it  is  quite  unnecessary.  Tell  him  not 
to  mind.     When  a  fellow's  ill,  why  should  he  be  troubled  ?" 

Maurice  had  taken  out  his  pocket-book,  and  was  searching 
for  the  lilac  slip. 

"  But  here  is  the  check,  Lord  Rockminster ;  and  nothing  would 
do  him  but  that  I  must  give  it  into  your  own  hands." 

"  Oh,  really." 

Lord  Rockminster  took  the  check,  and  happened  to  glance 
at  it. 

"  Ah,  I  see  this  is  drawn  out  by  yourself,  Mr.  Mangan,"  he 
said.  "  I  presume — eh — that  you  have  lent  Mr.  Moore  the 
money  ?" 

Maurice  hesitated,  but  there  was  no  prevarication  handy. 

"  If  you  ask  the  question,  it  is  so.  However,  I  suppose  it  is 
all  the  same." 

"  All  the  same  ? — yes,"  Lord  Rockminster  said,  slowly  ;  "  with 
only  this  difference,  that  before  he  owed  me  the  money,  and 
now  he  owes  it  to  you.  I  don't  see  any  necessity  for  that  ar- 
rangement. I  haven't  asked  him  for  it ;  I  sha'n't  ask  him  for  it 
until  he  is  quite  ready  and  able  to  pay ;  why,  therefore,  should 
he  borrow  from  you  ?  Take  back  your  check,  ^fi-.  Mangan  ;  T 
understand  what  you  were  willing  to  do  for  your  friend ;  I  as- 
sure you  it  is  quite  uncalled  for." 


384  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

But  Maurice  refused.  He  explained  all  the  circumstances  of 
the  case — Lionel's  feverish  condition,  bis  fretting  about  the  debt, 
the  necessity  for  keeping  his  mind  pacified,  and  so  on ;  and  at 
last  Lord  Eockminster  said, 

"  Very  well ;  you  can  tell  him  you  have  given  me  the  check. 
At  the  same  time  you  can't  compel  me  to  pay  it  into  my  bank- 
ers' ;  and  I  don't  see  why  I  should  take  three  hundred  pounds 
of  your  money  when  you  don't  owe  me  any.  When  Mr.  Moore 
gets  perfectly  well  again,  you  can  tell  him  he  still  owes  me  three 
hundred  pounds — and  he  can  take  his  own  time  about  paying 
it."  And  with  that  Maurice  took  his  leave.  Lord  Rockminster 
going  down  the  stair  with  him  and  out  to  the  hall-door,  where 
he  bade  him  good-bye. 

When  he  returned  to  Piccadilly,  he  said  to  the  nurse, 

"  I  suppose  you  can  sleep  at  a  moment's  notice  ?" 

"  Pretty  well,  sir,"  she  answered,  with  a  demure  professional 
smile. 

"  Then  you'd  better  find  out  this  room  that  Mrs.  Jenkins  has 
got  for  you,  and  lie  down  for  a  few  hours.  I  sha'n't  be  leaving 
until  after  midnight — perhaps  one  or  two  o'clock.  Then,  when 
I  go,  you  can  have  this  sofa  here ;  and  I  shall  be  back  early  in 
the  morning,  to  give  you  another  rest." 

"  Thank  you,  sir." 

He  went  into  the  adjoining  room. 

**  Headache  any  better,  Linn,  my  boy  ?"  he  asked,  stooping 
over  the  bed. 

There  was  no  answer  for  a  second  or  two  ;  then  the  eyes 
were  opened,  showing  a  drowsy,  pained  expression. 

"  Did  you  see  him,  Maurice  ?" 

"  Oh,  yes,  that's  all  settled,"  Mangan  said,  cheerfully.  "  I 
can't  say  there  is  much  of  the  grasping  creditor  about  your 
friend.  I  could  hardly  persuade  him  to  take  the  check  at  all, 
after  I  had  hunted  him  from  place  to  place.  What  made  you 
so  desperately  punctilious,  Linn  ?  You  don't  imagine  he  would 
have  talked  about  it  to  any  women-folk,  even  supposing  you 
had  not  paid  up  ?  Is  that  it  ?  No,  no,  you  can't  imagine  he 
would  do  anything  of  that  kind  ;  I  should  call  him  a  thoroughly 
good  fellow,  if  one  might  be  so  familiar  with  his  betters.  How- 
ever, I  don't  want  you  to  say  anything ;  you  mustn't  speak  ;  I'm 
going  to  talk  to  you."     He  drew  in  a  chair  to  the  bedside  and 


PRINCE    F0RTUNATU8.  31^5 

sat  down.  "  Now  I  wish  you  to  understand.  You've  got  a 
mortal  bad  cold,  which  may  develop  into  a  fever ;  and  you  have 
a  slightly  congested  throat ;  altogether  you  must  consider  your- 
self an  invalid,  old  man ;  and  it  may  be  some  time  before  you 
can  get  back  to  the  theatre.  Now  the  first  thing  for  you  is 
peace  of  mind  ;  you're  not  to  worry  about  anything ;  you've  got 
to  dismiss  every  possible  care  and  vexation." 

"  It's  all  you  know,  Maurice,"  the  sick  man  said,  with  a 
wearied  sigh. 

"  Oh,  I  know  more  than  you  think.  We'll  just  take  one  thing 
at  a  time.  About  this  eleven  hundred  pounds  for  example. 
You  are  aware  I  am  not,  strictly  speaking,  a  Cra?sus,  yet  I  have 
made  my  little  economies,  and  they  are  tied  up  in  one  or  two 
fairly  safe  things.  Well,  now —  Oh,  be  quiet,  Linn,  and  let 
me  have  it  out !  Something  happened  to  me  yesterday  that 
more  than  ever  convinced  me  of  the  worthlessness  of  riches. 
You  know  the  coppice  that  goes  up  from  Winstead  station. 
At  the  farther  end  there  is  a  gate.*  At  that  gate  yesterday  I 
heard  a  dozen  words — twenty  or  thirty,  perhaps — that  were  of 
more  value  to  me  than  Pactolus  in  full  flood  or  all  the  money 
heaped  up  in  Aladdin's  cave.  And  now  I  am  so  puffed  up  with 
joy  and  pride  that  I  am  going  still  further  to  despise  my  wealth 
— my  hoards  and  vast  accumulations ;  and  on  Monday,  if  I  can, 
I  am  going  to  get  you  that  eleven  hundred  pounds,  just  as  sure 
as  ever  was — " 

"  Maurice — you  have  to  think  of  Francie,"  Lionel  said,  in  his 
husky,  low  voice.    And  here  Mangan  paused  for  a  second  or  two. 

"  Well,"  said  he,  more  thoughtfully,  "  what  happened  yester- 
day certainly  involves  responsibilities ;  but  these  haven't  been 
assumed  yet ;  and  the  nearest  duty  is  the  one  to  be  considered. 
I  don't  know  whether  I  shall  tell  Francie  ;  I  may,  or  I  may  not ; 
but  I  am  certain  that  if  I  do  she  will  approve — certain  as  that  I 
am  alive." 

"  I  won't  rob  Francie,"  said  Lionel,  with  a  little  moan  of  weari- 
ness or  pain. 

"  You  can't  rob  her  of  what  she  hasn't  got,"  Mangan  said, 
promptly.  "  I  know  this,  that  if  Francie  knew  you  were  in  these 
straits  and  worrying  about  it,  she  would  instantly  come  up  and 
offer  you  her  own  little  money — which  is  not  a  very  large  fortune, 
as  I  understand ;  and  I  also  know  that  you  would  refuse  it." 
17 


386  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  A  dose  of  prussic  acid  first,"  Lionel  murmured,  to  him- 
self. 

"Prussic  acid  ! — Bosh!"  said  Maurice.  "What  is  the  use  of 
talking  rubbish  !  Well,  I'm  not  going  to  let  you  talk  at  all.  I'm 
going  to  read  you  the  news  out  of  the  evening  papers  until  you 
go  to  sleep." 

When  Dr.  Ballardyce  called  next  morning,  he  found  that  the 
fever  had  gained  apace  ;  all  the  symptoms  were  aggravated — the 
temperature,  in  especial,  had  seriously  increased.  The  sick  man 
lay  drowsily  indifferent,  now  and  again  moaning  slightly ;  but 
sometimes  he  would  waken  up,  and  then  there  was  a  curiously 
anxious  and  restless  look  in  his  eyes.  The  nurse  said  she  was 
afraid  he  had  not  been  asleep  at  all,  though  occasionally  he  had 
appeared  to  be  asleep.  When  the  doctor  left  again,  she  was 
sent  to  bed,  and  Maurice  Mangan  took  her  place  in  the  sitting- 
room. 

That  was  an  extraordinary  Sunday,  long  to  be  remembered. 
Anything  more  hopelessly  "dismal  than  the  outlook  from  those 
Piccadilly  windows  it  was  impossible  to  imagine.  The  gale  of 
Friday  had  blown  itself  out  in  rain  ;  and  that  had  been  followed 
by  stagnant  weather  and  a  continuous  drizzle  ;  so  that  the  trees 
in  the  Green  Park  opposite  looked  like  black  phantoms  in  the 
vague  gray  mist ;  while  everything  seemed  wet  and  clammy  and 
cold.  Maurice  paced  up  and  down  the  room,  his  feet  shod  in 
noiseless  slippers  ;  or  he  gazed  out  on  that  melancholy  spectacle 
until  he  thought  of  suicide ;  or  again  he  would  go  into  the  ad- 
joining apartment,  to  see  how  his  friend  was  getting  on  or 
whether  he  wanted  anything.  But  as  the  day  wore  on,  matters 
became  a  little  brisker;  for  there  were  numerous  callers,  and 
some  of  them  waited  to  have  a  special  message  sent  down  to 
them ;  while  others,  knowing  Mangan,  and  learning  that  he  was 
in  charge  of  the  invalid,  came  up  to  have  a  word  with  himself. 
Baskets  of  flowers  began  to  arrive,  too ;  and  these,  of  course, 
must  have  come  from  private  conservatories.  No  one  was  al- 
lowed to  enter  the  sick-room ;  but  Maurice  carried  thither  the 
news  of  all  this  kindly  remembrance  and  sympathy,  as  some- 
thing that  might  be  grateful  to  his  patient. 

"  You've  got  a  tremendous  number  of  friends,  Linn,  and  no 
mistake,"  he  said.  "  Munv  a  great  statesman  or  poet  might  envy 
you." 


PRINCE    FORTUNATCS.  387 

"  I  suppose  it  is  in  the  papers  ?"  Lionel  asked,  without  raising 
his  head. 

"  In  one  or  two  of  the  late  editions  last  evening,  and  in  most 
of  to-day's  papers ;  but  to-morrow  it  will  be  all  over  the  coun- 
try. I  have  had  several  London  correspondents  here  this  after- 
noon." 

"  All  over  the  country  ?"  Lionel  repeated,  absently,  and  then 
he  lay  still  for  a  second  or  two.  "  No  use — no  use !"  he  moaned, 
in  so  low  a  voice  that  Mangan  could  hardly  hear.  And  then 
again  he  looked  up  wearily. 

"  Come  here,  Maurice.  I  want  to — to  ask  you  something.  If 
— if  I  were  to  die — do  you  think — they  would  put  it  in  any  of 
the  papers  abroad  ?" 

"  Nonsense — what  are  you  talking  about  ?"  Maurice  exclaimed, 
in  a  simulated  anger.  "  Talking  of  dying — because  you've  got 
a  feverish  cold ;  that's  not  Uke  you,  Linn  !  You're  not  going 
to  frighten  your  people  when  they  come  up  from  Winstead,  by 
talking  like  that  ?" 

"  Don't  let  them  come  up,"  was  all  he  said,  and  shut  his  eyes 
again. 

Among  the  callers  that  afternoon  who,  learning  that  Mr.  Man- 
gan was  up-stairs,  came  personally  to  make  inquiries,  was  Miss 
Burgoyne,  who  was  accompanied  by  her  brother. 

"  What  is  the  matter  ?"  she  said,  briefly,  to  Maurice.  "  One 
never  can  trust  what  is  in  the  newspapers." 

He  told  her. 

"  Serious  ?" 

"  That  depends,"  he  said,  in  a  low  voice,  as  they  stood  to- 
gether at  the  window.  "  I  hope  not.  But  I  suppose  the  fever 
will  have  to  run  its  course." 

"  It  will  be  some  time  before  he  can  be  back  at  the  theatre  ?" 

"  It  will  be  a  very  long  time.  There  is  some  slight  conges- 
tion of  the  throat  as  well.  "When  he  pulls  through  with  the 
fever,  he  will  most  likely  be  sent  abroad,  for  rest  to  his  throat." 

She  considered  for  a  second  or  two ;  then  she  said,  with  a 
matter-of-fact  air : 

"  They  needn't  make  a  fuss  about  that.  His  throat  will  be 
all  right.  It  is  only  repeated  congestions  that  seriously  affect 
the  membrane  ;  and  he  has  been  exceptionally  lucky — or  excep- 
tionally strong,  perhaps.     Who  is  his  doctor?" 


388  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  Dr.  Ballardyce." 

"  Don't  know  him." 

"  Then  there's  Dr.  Whitsen." 

"  Oh,  thafs  all  right — he'll  do.  It's  the  voice  that's  the  im- 
portant thing ;  the  general  system  must  take  its  chance.  Well, 
tell  him  I'm  very  sorry.  I  suppose  there's  nothing  one  can  send 
him  ?" 

"  Thank  you,  I  don't  think  there  is  anything.  Look  at  the 
flowers  and  grapes  and  things  there — already — and  this  is  Sun- 
day." 

She  glanced  at  those  gifts  with  open  disdain. 

"  Very  easy  for  rich  folks  to  show  their  sympathy  by  sending 
an  order  to  their  head-gardener  !" 

"  I  will  tell  him  that  you  called,  and  left  kind  messages  for 
him." 

"  Yes,  tell  him  that.  And  tell  him  Doyle  does  very  well — 
fairly  well — though  he's  as  nervous  as  a  pantomime-girl  hoisted 
in  a  transformation-scene.  If  I  were  you,"  continued  this  ex- 
tremely practical  young  lady,  "  I  wouldn't  tell  any  of  the  news- 
paper men  that  it  may  be  a  considerable  time  before  Mr.  Moore 
is  back.  Nobody  likes  to  lose  touch  of  the  public  more  than 
he  can  help,  you  know  ;  and  if  they're  always  expecting  you 
back,  that's  something.     Good-bye  !" 

Maurice  accompanied  her  down-stairs  and  to  the  door ;  then 
he  returned  to  the  sitting-room  and  to  his  private  meditations. 
For  this  brief  interview  had  been  of  the  keenest  interest  to  him ; 
he  had  studied  every  expression  of  her  face,  listened  to  every 
intonation  of  her  voice ;  almost  forced,  in  spite  of  himself,  to 
admire  her  magnificent  nerve.  But  now,  of  course,  in  recalling 
all  these  things,  he  was  thinking  of  Francie  ;  as  a  man  invaria- 
bly does  when  he  places  the  one  woman  of  the  world  on  a  ped- 
estal, that  all  the  rest  of  her  sex  may  be  compared  with  her ; 
and  even  his  extorted  admiration  of  the  prima-donna's  coolness 
and  self-possession  and  business-like  tact  did  not  prevent  his 
rejoicing  at  the  thought  that  Francie  and  Miss  Bnrgoyne  were 
poles  asunder. 

That  evening  Maurice  was  startled.  He  had  gone  very  quietly 
into  the  sick-room,  just  to  sec  how  his  patient  was  getting  on, 
and  found  him  breathing  heavily  and  also  restlessly  muttering 
to  himself.     Perhaps  even  the  slight  noise  of  his  entrance  had 


PEINCE    FORTUNATDS.  389 

attracted  the  notice  of  one  abnormally  sensitive ;  at  all  events, 
Lionel  opened  bis  eyes,  wbich  were  no  longer  drowsy,  but  eager 
and  excited,  and  said, 

"  Maurice,  have  you  not  sent  for  Nina  yet  ?" 

"  For  Nina?" 

"  Oh,  yes,  yes,"  Lionel  went  on,  as  quickly  as  his  laboring 
breath  would  allow.  "  llow  can  I  go  abroad  without  saying 
good-bye  to  Nina?  Tell  Jenkins  to  go  down  to  Sloane  Street 
at  once — at  once,  Maurice — before  she  leaves  for  the  theatre. 
I  have  been  waiting  for  her  all  day — I  heard  the  people  coming 
up — one  after  another — but  not  Nina.  And  I  cannot  go  with- 
out saying  good-bye.  I  want  to  tell  her  something.  She  must 
make  friends  with  Miss  Burgoyne,  now  she  has  got  into  the 
theatre.  Lehmann  will  give  her  a  better  part  by  and  by — oh, 
yes,  I'll  see  to  that  for  Nina — and  I  must  write  to  Pandiani,  to 
tell  him  of  her  success — " 

"  Oh,  but  that's  all  settled,  Linn,"  his  friend  broke  in,  per- 
ceiving the  situation  at  once.  "  Now  you  just  keep  quiet,  and 
it  will  be  all  perfectly  arranged — perfectly.  Of  course  I  know 
you  are  glad  your  old  friend  and  companion  has  got  a  place  in 
the  theatre." 

"  Yes,  she  was  my  friend — she  was  my  friend  once,"  he  said, 
and  he  looked  appealingly  at  Maurice ;  "  but — but  I  sometimes 
think — sometimes  it  is  my  head — that  there  is  something  wrong. 
Can  you  tell  me,  Maurice  ?  There  is  something — I  don't  know 
what — but  it  troubles  me — I  cannot  tell  what  it  is.  When  she 
was  here  to-day,  she  would  not  speak  to  me.  She  came  and 
looked.  She  stood  by  the  door  there.  She  had  on  the  black 
dress  and  the  crimson  bonnet — but  she  had  forgotten  her  music. 
I  thought,  perhaps,  she  was  going  down  to  the  theatre — but 
why  wouldn't  she  speak  to  me,  Maurice  ?  She  did  not  look 
angry — she  looked  like — like — oh,  just  like  Nina — and  I  could 
not  ask  her  why  she  would  not  say  anything — my  throat  was 
so  bad — " 

"  Yes,  I  know  that,  Linn,"  Maurice  said,  gently,  "  and  that 
is  why  you  mustn't  talk  any  more  now.  You  must  lie  still  and 
rest,  so  that  you  may  take  your  place  in  the  theatre  again — " 

"  But  haven't  they  told  you  I  am  never  going  to  the  theatre 
again  ?"  he  said,  eagerly.  "  Oh,  no  ;  as  soon  as  I  can  I  am  going 
away  abroad — I  am  going  away  all  over  the  world — to  find  some 


390  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

one.  Yon  said  she  was  my  friend  and  my  good  comrade — do 
you  think  I  could  let  her  be  away  in  some  distant  place,  and  all 
alone  ?  I  could  not  rest  in  my  grave !  It  may  be  Malta,  or 
Cairo,  or  Australia,  or  San  Francisco ;  but  that  is  what  I  am  set 
on.  I  have  thought  of  it  so  long  that — that  I  think  my  head 
has  got  tired,  and  my  heart  a  little  bit  broken,  as  they  say,  only 
I  never  believed  in  that.  Never  mind,  Maurice,  I  am  going  away 
to  find  Nina — ah,  that  will  be  a  surprise  some  day — a  surprise 
just  as  when  she  first  came  here — into  the  room — in  the  black 
dress  and  the  crimson  bonnet — la  cianciosella,  she  was  going 
away  again ! — she  was  always  so  proud  and  easily  offended — 
always  the  cianciosella  /" 

He  turned  a  little,  and  moaned,  and  lay  still ;  and  Maurice, 
fearing  that  his  presence  would  only  add  to  this  delirious  excite- 
ment, was  about  to  slip  from  the  room,  when  his  sick  friend 
called  him  back. 

"  Maurice,  don't  forget  this  now  !  When  she  comes  again, 
you  must  stand  by  her  at  the  door  there,  and  tell  her  not  to  be 
frightened :  I  am  not  so  very  ill.  Tell  Nina  not  to  be  fright- 
ened. She  used  not  to  be  frightened.  Ask  her  to  remember 
the  afternoons  when  I  had  the  broken  ankle — she  and  Sabetta 
Debernardi  used  to  come  nearly  every  day — and  Sabetta  brought 
her  zither — and  Nina  and  I  played  dominoes.  Maurice,  you  never 
heard  Nina  sing  to  herself — just  to  herself,  not  thinking — and 
sometimes  Sabetta  would  play  a  harcarola — oh,  there  was  one 
that  Nina  used  to  sing  sometimes — '■Da  la  parte  de  Castelo — 
ziraremo  mio  tesoro — mio  tesorof — la  passara  el  Bucintoro — ^;fr 
condur  el  Dose  in  mar'' — I  heard  it  last  night  again — but — but 
all  stringed  instruments — and  the  sound  of  wind  and  waves — 
it  was  so  strange  and  terrible — when  I  was  listening  for  Nina's 
voice.  I  think  it  was  at  Capri — along  the  shores — but  it  was 
night-time — and  I  could  not  hear  Nina  because  of  the  wind  and 
the  waves.  Oh,  it  was  terrible,  Maurice  !  The  sea  was  roaring 
all  round  the  shores — and  it  was  so  black — only  I  thought  if  the 
water  were  about  to  come  up  and  drown  me,  it  might — it  might 
take  me  away  somewhere — I  don't  know  where — perhaps  to  the 
place  where  Nina's  ship  went  down  in  the  dark.  Why  did  she 
go  away,  Maurice  ? — why  did  she  go  away  from  us  all  ? — the 
poor  cianciosella  f" 

These  rambling,  wearied,  broken   utterances  were  suddenly 


PKINCE    FORTUNATUS,  ^91 

arrested :  there  was  a  tapping  at  the  outer  door — and  Lionel 
turned  frightened,  anxious  eyes  on  his  friend. 

"  I'll  go  and  see  who  it  is,"  Mangan  said,  quietly.  "  Mean- 
while you  must  lie  perfectly  quiet  and  still,  Linn,  and  be  sure 
that  everything  will  come  right." 

In  the  next  room,  at  the  open  door,  he  found  the  reporter  of 
a  daily  newspaper  which  was  in  the  habit  of  devoting  a  column 
every  Monday  morning  to  music  and  musicians.  lie  was  bidden 
to  enter.  He  said  he  wished  to  have  the  last  authentic  news  of 
the  condition  of  the  popular  young  baritone,  for  of  course  there 
would  be  some  talk,  especially  in  "the  profession,"  about  Mr. 
Moore's  non-appearance  on  the  preceding  night. 

"  Well,"  said  Maurice,  in  an  undertone,  "  don't  publish  any- 
thing alarming,  you  know,  for  he  has  friends  and  relatives  who 
are  naturally  anxious.  The  fever  has  increased  somewhat ;  that 
is  the  usual  thing ;  a  nervous  fever  must  run  its  course.  And 
to-night  he  has  been  slightly  delirious — " 

"  Oh,  delirious  ?"  said  the  reporter,  with  a  quick  look. 

"  Slightly — slightly — just  wandering  a  little  in  his  feverish- 
ness.  I  wouldn't  make  much  of  it.  The  public  don't  care  for 
medical  details.  When  the  crisis  of  the  fever  comes,  there  will 
be  something  more  definite  to  mention." 

"  If  all  goes  well,  when  do  you  expect  he  will  be  able  to  re- 
turn to  the  New  Theatre  ?" 

"  That,"  said  Maurice,  remembering  Miss  Burgoyne's  hint,  "  it 
is  quite  impossible  to  say." 

*'  Thanks,"  said  the  reporter.  "  Good-night."  And  there- 
with Maugan  returned  to  the  sick-room. 

He  found  that  Lionel  had  forgotten  all  about  having  been 
startled  into  silence  by  the  tapping  at  the  outer  door.  Uis 
heated  brain  was  busy  with  other  bewildering  possibilities 
now. 

"  Maurice — Maurice  !"  he  said,  eagerly.  "  It  is  near  the  time 
— quick,  quick  ! — get  me  the  box — behind  the  music — on  the 
piano — " 

"  Look  here,  Linn,"  said  his  friend,  with  some  affectation  of 
asperity,  "  you  must  really  calm  yourself  and  be  silent,  or  I 
shall  have  to  go  and  sit  in  the  other  room.  You  are  straining 
your  throat  every  time  you  speak,  and  exciting  yourself  as 
well." 


392  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  Ah,  and  it  is  my  last  chance !"  Lionel  said,  piteously,  and 
with  burning  eyes.  "  If  you  only  knew,  Maurice,  you  would 
not  refuse !" 

"  Well,  tell  me  quietly  what  you  want,"  Mangan  said. 

"  The  box — on  the  top  of  the  piano,"  Lionel  made  answer,  in 
a  low  voice,  but  his  eyes  were  tremblingly  anxious.  "  Quick, 
Maurice !" 

Mangan  went  and  without  any  difficulty  found  the  box  that 
held  Nina's  trinkets,  and  returned  with  it. 

"  Open  it !"  Lionel  said,  clearly  striving  to  conceal  his  excite- 
ment. "  Yes,  yes — put  those  other  things  aside — yes,  that  is  it 
— the  two  cups — take  them  separate  ;  it  isn't  twelve  yet,  is  it  ? 
No,  no ;  there  will  be  time ;  now  put  them  on  the  table  by  the 
window  there — yes,  that  is  it — now  pour  some  wine  into  them — 
never  mind  what,  Maurice,  only  be  quick  !" 

Well,  he  could  not  refuse  this  apjDeal ;  he  thought  that  most 
likely  the  yielding  to  these  incoherent  wishes  would  prove  the 
best  means  of  pacifying  the  fevered  mind  ;  so  he  went  into  the 
next  room  and  brought  back  some  wine,  and  half  filled  the  two 
tiny  goblets. 

"  Now,  wait,  Maurice,"  Lionel  said,  slowly,  and  in  a  still  lower 
voice,  though  his  eyes  were  afire.  "  Wait  and  watch — closely, 
closely — don't  breathe  or  speak.  It  is  near  twelve.  Watch ! 
Do  not  take  your  eyes  off  them  ;  and  at  twelve  o'clock,  when 
you  see  one  of  the  cups  move,  then  you  must  seize  it — seize  it, 
and  seize  Nina's  hand ! — and  hold  her  fast !  Oh,  I  can  tell  you 
she  will  not  leave  us  any  more — not  when  I  have  spoken  to  her 
and  told  her  how  cruel  it  was  of  her  to  go  away.  I  do  not  know 
where  she  is  now  ;  but  at  twelve,  all  of  a  sudden,  there  will  be 
a  kind  of  trembling  of  the  air — that  is  Nina — for  she  has  been 
here  before ;  how  long  to  twelve  now,  Maurice  ?"  he  asked, 
eagerly. 

"  oil,  it  is  a  long  time  till  twelve  yet,"  his  friend  said.  "  I 
think,  if  I  were  you,  I  would  try  to  sleep  for  an  hour  or  two ; 
and  I'll  go  into  the  other  room  so  as  not  to  disturb  you." 

"  No,  no,  Maurice,"  Lionel  said,  with  panting  vehemence. 
"  You  must  not  stir !  It  is  quite  near,  I  tell  you — it  is  close  on 
twelve — watch  the  cups,  Maurice,  and  be  ready  to  spring  up  and 
seize  her  hand  and  hold  her  fast.  Quite  near  twelve — surely 
I  liear  somethinc: — it  is  somethin<r   outside  the  window — like 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS,  393 

stringed  instruments — and  waves,  dark  waves — no,  no !  Maurice, 
Maurice !  it  is  in  the  next  room  ! — it  is  some  one  sobbing ! — it 
is  Nina  ! — Nina  !" 

lie  uttered  a  loud  shriek  and  struggled  wildly  to  raise  him- 
self ;  but  Maurice,  with  gentle  pressure  and  persuasive  words, 
got  him  to  lie  still. 

"  It  is  past  twelve  now,  Linn ;  and  you  see  there  has  been 
nothing.  We  must  wait ;  and  some  day  we  will  find  out  all 
about  Nina  for  you.  Of  course  you  would  like  to  know  about 
your  old  companion.     Oh,  we'll  find  her,  rest  assured  !" 

Lionel  had  turned  away,  and  was  lying  moaning  and  mutter- 
ing to  himself.  The  only  phrase  his  companion  could  make  out 
was  something  about  "  a  wide,  wide  sea — and  all  dark." 

But  Maurice,  finding  him  now  comparatively  quiet,  stealthily 
put  back  the  various  trinkets  into  the  box  and  carried  it  into  the 
other  room.  And  then,  hearing  no  further  sound,  he  remained 
there — remained  until  the  nurse  came  down  to  take  his  place. 

He  told  her  what  had  occurred ;  but  she  was  familiar  with 
these  things,  and  doubtless  knew  much  better  than  himself  how 
to  deal  with  such  emergencies.  At  the  street-door  he  paused  to 
light  his  pipe — his  first  smoke  that  day,  and  surely  well-earned. 
Then  he  went  away  through  the  dark  thoroughfares  down  to 
Westminster,  not  without  much  pity  and  sadness  in  his  mind, 
also  perhaps  with  some  curious  speculations — as  to  the  lot  of 
poor,  luckless  mortals,  their  errors  and  redeeming  virtues,  and 
the  vagrant  and  cruel  buflEetinffs  of  fate. 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

FRIENDS      IN      NEED. 


On  the  Monday  morning  matters  were  so  serious  that  Mangan 
telegraphed  down  to  Winstead  ;  but  the  old  doctor  and  his  wife 
and  Francie  were  already  on  their  way  to  town.  When  they 
arrived  in  Piccadilly,  and  went  into  the  sick-room,  Lionel  did 
not  know  them ;  most  likely  he  merely  confused  them  with  the 
crowding  pliantoms  of  his  brain.  He  was  now  in  a  high  state 
of  fever,  but  the  delirium  was  not  violent ;  he  lay  murmuring 
and  moaning,  and  it  was  only  chance  phrases  they  could  catch 
17* 


394  PRINCE   FORTUNATUS. 

— about  some  one  being  lost — and  a  wide  and  dark  sea — and  so 
forth.  Sometimes  he  fancied  that  Nina  was  standing  at  the 
door,  and  he  would  appeal  piteously  to  her,  and  then  sink 
back  with  a  sigh,  as  if  convinced  once  more  that  it  was  only  a 
vision.  The  Winstead  people  took  apartments  for  themselves 
at  a  hotel  in  Half-Moon  Street ;  but  of  course  they  spent  nearly 
all  their  time  in  this  sitting-room,  where  they  could  do  little  but 
listen  to  the  reports  of  the  doctors,  and  wait  and  hope. 

In  the  afternoon  Mangan  said, 

"  Francie,  you're  not  used  to  sitting  in-doors  all  day  ;  won't 
you  come  out  for  a  little  stroll  in  the  Park  over  there?" 

"  And  I'm  sure  you  want  a  breath  of  fresh  air  as  much  as  any 
one,  Mr.  Mangan,"  the  old  lady  said.  "  What  would  my  boy 
have  done  without  you  all  this  time  ?" 

Francie  at  once  and  obediently  put  on  her  things,  and  she  and 
Maurice  went  down-stairs  and  crossed  the  street  and  entered  the 
Park,  where  they  could  walk  up  and  down  the  unfrequented  ways 
and  talk  as  they  pleased. 

"  I  suppose  you  will  be  going  down  to  the  House  of  Commons 
almost  directly  ?"  she  asked. 

"  Oh,  no,"  he  answered.  "  I've  begged  off.  I  could  not  think 
of  getting  to  work  while  Linn  is  so  ill  as  that." 

"Do  you  know  what  I  have  been  thinking  all  day,  Maurice?" 
she  said,  gently.  "  When  I  saw  you  with  the  doctors,  and  when 
I  heard  of  all  you  have  done  since  Saturday  morning — well,  I 
could  not  help  thinking  that  there  must  be  something  fine  about 
Lionel  to  have  secured  him  such  a  friend." 

He  looked  at  her  with  some  surprise. 

"  But  you  have  been  his  friend — all  these  years !"  he  said. 

"  Ah,  that's  different ;  we  were  brought  up  together.  Tell  me 
— the  Nina  he  is  always  talking  about — 1  suppose  that  is  the 
Italian  girl  who  was  at  the  theatre,  and  whom  he  knew  in  Naples 
— he  used  to  write  home  about  her — " 

"  Yes,"  he  said ;  "  and  it  is  only  now  I  am  beginning  to  un- 
derstand something  of  the  situation.  I  do  believe  mental  dis- 
tress has  had  as  much  to  do  with  bringing  on  this  fever  as  any- 
thing else  ;  the  chill  may  have  been  only  an  accident  that 
developed  it.  I  told  you  when  I  saw  him,  before  he  was  struck 
down,  how  he  seemed  to  be  all  at  sixes  and  sevens  with  himself 
— everything  wrong — worried,  harassed,  and  sick  of  life,  though 


I 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  395 

ho  would  hardly  oxplain  anythinq; ;  he  was  always  too  proud  to 
ask  for  pity.  Well,  now,  I  am  piecing  together  a  story,  out  of 
these  incoherent  appeals  and  recollections  that  come  into  his  de- 
lirium ;  and  if  I  am  right,  it  is  a  sad  enough  one,  for  it  seems  to 
me  so  hopeless.  I  believe  he  was  all  the  time  in  love  with  that 
Nina — Miss  Ross — and  did  not  know  it ;  for  their  association, 
their  companionship,  was  so  constant,  so  like  an  intimate  friend- 
ship. Then  there  seems  to  have  been  some  misunderstanding, 
and  she  went  away  unexpectedly — there  is  a  box  of  jewels  and 
trinkets  on  the  top  of  the  piano,  and  I  am  certain  these  were 
what  she  sent  back  to  him  when  she  left.  I  don't  think  he  has 
the  slightest  idea  where  she  is  ;  and  that  is  troubling  him  more 
than  anything  else — " 

"  But,  Maurice,"  said  Francie,  instantly, "  could  we  not  find 
out  where  she  is  ? — surely  she  would  come  and  see  him  and 
pacify  his  mind  ;  it  would  just  make  all  the  difference !  Surely^ 
we  could  find  out  where  she  is !" 

Mangan  hesitated  ;  it  was  not  the  first  time  this  idea  had  oc- 
curred to  himself. 

"  I  am  afraid,"  said  he,  "  that,  even  if  we  knew  where  she  was, 
it  would  be  rather  awkward  to  approach  her.  There  may  have 
been  something  about  her  going  away  that  prevented  Linn  from 
trying  to  find  her  out.  For  one  thing,  his  engagement  to  Miss 
Burgoyne.  I  believe  he  blundered  into  that  in  a  sort  of  reck- 
less despair  ;  but  there  it  is  ;  and  there  it  is  likely  to  be,  unfort- 
unately— " 

"  But  surely,  surely,  Maurice,"  said  Francie,  "  Miss  Ross  would 
not  make  that  any  obstacle  if  she  knew  that  her  coming  would 
give  peace  and  rest  to  one  who  is  dangerously  ill.  Surely  she 
would  not  think  of  such  a  thing  at  such  a  time — " 

"  And  then  again,"  he  said,  "  the  chances  are  all  against  our 
finding  her,  if  she  wishes  to  remain  concealed,  or  even  absent. 
Linn  talks  of  Malta,  of  Australia,  of  San  Francisco,  and  so  on ; 
but  I  don't  believe  he  has  the  slightest  idea  where  she  is.  No, 
I'm  afraid  it's  no  use  thinking  of  it ;  the  crisis  of  the  fever  will 
be  here  before  any  such  thing  could  be  tried." 

Then  he  said,  presently, 

"  I  had  a  visit  from  Miss  Burgoyne  yesterday  afternoon." 

"  I  suppose  she  was  terribly  distressed,".  Francie  said,  natu- 
rally enoutrh. 


396  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  Oh,  no.  On  the  contrary,  she  was  remarkably  cool  and 
composed.  I  almost  admired  her  self-possession.  She  does 
not  think  Lionel's  throat  will  suffer  ;  and  no  doubt  she  trusts  to 
his  sound  constitution  to  pull  him  through  the  fever ;  so  per- 
haps there  is  not  much  reason  that  she  should  betray  any  anxi- 
ety. Oh,  yes,  she  was  very  brave  about  it — and — and  business- 
like. At  the  same  time  I  confess  to  a  sort  of  prejudice  in  favor 
of  feminine  women.  I  think  a  little  touch  of  femininity  might 
improve  Miss  Burgoyne,  for  example.  However,  she  knows  she 
is  in  possession ;  and  if  Linn  pulls  through  all  right,  there  she 
is,  waiting  for  him." 

It  seemed  to  Francie  that  her  companion  had  managed  to 
form  a  pretty  strong  dislike  towards  that  young  lady,  consider- 
ing how  little  he  could  possibly  know  of  her. 

"I  suppose  one  ought  not  to  contemplate  such  things,"  he 
continued, "  but  if  Linn  were  to  come  out  of  the  fever  with  the 
loss  of  his  voice,  I  suspect  he  would  have  little  trouble  in  free- 
ing himself  from  that  engagement  with  Miss  Burgoyne." 

"  But  surely  a  woman  could  not  be  so  base  as  to  keep  a  man 
to  an  unwilling  engagement !"  Francie  protested,  as  she  had  pro- 
tested before. 

"  I  don't  know  about  that,"  her  companion  said.  "  As  I  told 
you.  Miss  Burgoyne  is  a  business-like  person.  Linn,  with  his 
handsome  figure  and  his  fine  voice,  with  his  popularity  and  so- 
cial position,  is  a  very  desirable  match  for  her  ;  but  Linn  become 
a  nobody — his  voice  gone — his  social  success  along  with  it — 
would  be  something  entirely  different.  At  the  same  time.  Dr. 
AA'hitsen  agrees  with  her  in  thinking  there  won't  be  any  perma- 
nent injury ;  it  is  the  fever  that  is  the  serious  thing." 

They  went  back  to  the  house ;  the  reports  were  no  better. 
And  all  that  night  Lionel's  fevered  imaginings  did  not  cease. 
He  was  haunted  now  by  visions  of  cruelties  and  sufferings  being 
inflicted  on  some  one  he  knew  in  a  far-distant  land ;  he  pleaded 
with  the  torturers ;  he  called  for  help ;  sometimes  he  said  she 
was  dead  and  released,  and  there  was  no  more  need  for  him  to  go 
away  in  a  ship  to  seek  for  her.  The  wearied  brain  could  get  no 
rest  at  all.  Daylight  came,  and  still  he  lay  there,  moaning  and 
murmuring  to  himself.     But  help  was  at  hand. 

Between  ten  and  eleven,  Dr.  Ballardyce,  who  had  paid  his 
usual  morning  visit,  was  going  away,  and  Maurice,  as  his  custom 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  397 

was,  went  down-stairs  witli  him  to  hear  the  last  word.  lie  said 
good-bye  to  the  doctor  and  opened  the  door  for  him;  and  just 
as  he  did  so  he  found  before  him  a  young  woman  who  was 
about  to  ring  the  bell.  She  glanced  up  with  frightened  eyes  ; 
he  was  no  less  startled ;  and  then,  with  a  hurried  "  I  beg  your 
pardon,"  she  turned  to  go  away.  But  Maurice  was  by  her  side 
in  a  moment — bareheaded  as  he  was. 

"  Miss  Ross !"  he  exclaimed — for  surely,  surely,  he  could  not 
have  mistaken  the  pale  olive  face  and  the  beautiful,  soft,  dark, 
lustrous  eyes ;  nay,  he  made  bold  to  put  his  hand  on  her  arm, 
so  determined  was  he  to  detain  her. 

"  I — I  only  wished  to  hear  how  he  was — but — but  not  that 
he  should  know,"  Nina  said  (she  was  all  trembling,  and  her  lips 
were  pale). 

"Oh,  yes,"  Mangan  said.  "But  you  must  not  go  away — I 
have  something  to  -tell  you — come  in-doors  !  You  know  he  is 
seriously  ill — you  cannot  refuse  !" 

There  was  but  an  intervening  step  or  two ;  she  timidly  fol- 
lowed and  entered  the  little  hall ;  and  he  closed  the  door  after 
them. 

"  Is  he  so  very  ill  ?"  she  said,  in  a  low  voice.  "  I  saw  it  in  the 
newspapers — I  could  not  wait — but  he  is  not  to  know  that  I 
came — " 

"  But — but  I  have  something  to  say  to  you,"  he  answered  her, 
somewhat  breathlessly,  for  he  was  uncertain  what  to  do ;  he 
only  knew  that  she  must  not  go.  "  Yes,  he  is  very  ill — and  dis- 
tressed— his  brain  is  excited — and  we  want  to  calm  him.  Sure- 
ly you  will  come  and  speak  to  him — " 

She  shrank  back  involuntarily,  and  there  was  a  pathetic  fear 
in  the  large,  timid  eyes. 

"  Me  ?  No — no  1"  she  said.  "  Ah,  no,  I  could  not  do  that ! 
Is  he  so  very  ill  ?" 

Tears  stood  in  the  long,  black  lashes,  and  she  turned  her  head 
away. 

"  But  you  don't  understand,"  Maurice  said,  eagerly.  "  All 
the  way  through  this  illness,  it  is  about  you  he  has  been  gi'iev- 
ing ;  you  have  never  been  out  of  his  thoughts ;  and  if  you  saw 
his  distress,  I  know  you  would  do  anything  in  your  powder  to 
quiet  him  a  little.  It  is  what  his  cousin  said  yesterday.  '  If 
we  could  only  find  Miss  Ross,'  she  said, '  that  would  be  every- 


39S  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

thing ;  that  would  bring  him  rest ;  he  would  be  satisfied  that 
she  was  well,  and  remembering  him,  and  not  gone  away  forever.' 
I  never  expected  to  see  you ;  I  thought  it  was  useless  trying  to 
find  you ;  but  now — now — you  cannot  be  so  cruel  as  to  refuse 
him  this  comfort !  You  would  be  sorry  if  you  saw  him.  Per- 
haps he  might  not  recognize  you — probably  not.  But  if  you 
could  persuade  him  that  you  really  were  in  London — that  you 
would  come  some  other  day  soon  to  see  him  again — I  know  that 
would  pacify  him,  just  when  peace  of  mind  is  all-important. 
Now,  can  you  refuse  T' 

"  No,  no,"  Nina  said,  in  a  low  voice  ;  "  you  will  do  with  me 
what  you  like.  It  is  no  matter — what  it  is  to  me.  Do  with  me 
as  you  please."  And  then  again  she  turned  her  large,  dark 
eyes  upon  him,  as  if  to  make  sure  he  was  not  deceiving  her. 
"  Did  you  say  that — that  he  remembered  me — that  he  had  asked 
for  me?" 

"  Remember  you  !  If  you  only  could  have  heard  the  piteous 
way  he  has  talked  of  you — always  and  always — and  of  your  go- 
ing away.  I  have  such  a  lot  I  could  tell  you !  He  had  those 
loving-cups  filled  one  night — there  was  some  fancy  in  his  head 
he  could  call  you  back — " 

She  was  sobbing  a  little  ;  but  she  bravely  dried  her  tears,  and 
said, 

"  Tell  me  what  I  am  to  do." 

But  that  was  precisely  what  he  did  not  know  himself — for  a 
moment.     He  considered. 

"  Come  up-stairs,"  he  said.  "  His  family  are  there.  I  will 
tell  him  a  visitor  has  called  to  see  him.  He  often  thinks  you 
are  there,  but  that  you  won't  speak  to  him.  Well,  you  will 
just  say  a  few  words,  to  convince  him,  and  as  quietly  as  you 
can,  and  come  out  again.  Perhaps  he  will  take  it  all  as  a  mat- 
ter of  course ;  and  that  will  be  well ;  and  I  will  tell  him  you 
will  come  again,  after  he  has  had  some  sleep.  Of  course  you 
must  be  very  calm  too ;  there  must  be  no  excitement." 

"  No,  no,"  Nina  murmured,  in  the  same  low  voice,  and  she 
followed  him  up-stairs. 

On  entering  the  sitting-room  she  glanced  apprehensively  at 
those  strangers;  but  Francie,  divining  in  an  instant  who  she 
was  and  why  Maurice  had  brought  her  hither,  immediately  came 
to  her  and  pressed  her  hand,  in  silence. 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  399 

Maurice  went  into  the  sick-room. 

"  Linn,"  said  he,  cheerfully,  "  I've  brought  you  a  visitor  ;  but 
she  can't  stay  very  long ;  she  will  come  again  some  other  time. 
You've  always  been  asking  about  Miss  Ross,  and  why  she  didn't 
come  to  see  you  ;  well,  here  she  is  !" 

Lionel  slowly  opened  his  tired  eyes  and  looked  towards  the 
door;  but  he  seemed  to  take  no  interest  in  the  girl  who  was 
standing  there,  pale,  trembling,  and  quite  forgetting  all  she  had 
been  enjoined  to  do.  Lionel,  with  those  restless,  fatigued  eyes, 
regarded  her  for  but  a  second — then  he  turned  away,  shaking 
his  head.     He  had  seen  that  illusory  phantom  so  often ! 

"  Linn,"  said  his  friend,  reproachfully,  '*  when  Miss  Ross 
comes  to  see  you,  are  you  not  going  to  say  a  word  to  her  ?" 

It  was  Nina  herself  who  interrupted  him.  She  uttered  a  lit- 
tle cry  of  appeal  and  pity — "  Leo  !"  She  went  quickly  forward, 
and  threw  herself  on  her  knees  by  the  bedside,  and  seized  his 
hand,  and  bathed  it  with  her  hot  tears.  "  Leo,  do  you  not  know 
me  !  I  am  Nina  !  If  you  wish  me  to  come  back — see  !  see  ! — 
I  am  here  !     I  kiss  your  hand — it  is  Nina  !" 

He  looked  at  her  strangely,  and  turned  with  bewildered  eyes 
to  Maurice. 

"  Maurice,  is  it  twelve  o'clock  ?  Has  she  really  come  this 
time  ?  Did  you  hear  her  speak  just  now  ?  Is  it  Nina — at  last ! 
at  last  !" 

With  her  head  still  bowed  down,  and  her  whole  frame  shaken 
with  her  sobbing,  but  still  clasping  his  hand,  she  murmured  to 
him  some  phrase — Maurice  guessed  it  was  in  the  familiar  Nea- 
politan dialect ;  for  Lionel  presently  said  to  her — slowly,  because 
of  his  heavy  breathing  : 

"  Ah,  you  are  still  la  cianciosella  ! — but  you  have  come  back 
— and  not  to  go  away.  I  have  forgotten  so  many  things.  My 
head  is  not  well.  But  wait  a  little  while,  Nina — wait  a  little 
while—" 

"  Oh,  yes,  Leo,"  she  said,  and  she  rose  and  dried  her  eyes, 
with  her  head  turned  aside  somewhat.  "  I  will  wait  until  you 
have  plenty  of  time  to  tell  me.  I  shall  come  and  see  you  when- 
ever you  want  me." 

She  looked  at  Maurice  humbly  for  directions ;  his  eyes  plain- 
ly said — yes,  it  was  time  she  should  withdraw.  She  went  into 
the  other  room — rather  blindly,  as  it  seemed  to  her — and  she 


400  PRINCE    FOKTUNATUS. 

sank  into  a  chair,  still  trembling  and  exhausted  ;  but  Francie 
was  by  her  side  in  a  moment. 

"  Did  he  know  you  ?"  she  asked  in  an  undertone. 

"  Yes,  I  think,"  Nina  answered.  "  But  oh,  he  looks  so  strange 
— so  different.  He  has  suffered.  It  is  terrible  ;  but  I  am  glad 
that  1  came — " 

"  It  is  so  kind  of  you — for  I  see  you  are  so  tired  !"  said  Francie, 
in  her  gentle  way.     "  Perhaps  you  have  been  travelling?" 

"  Only  last  night — but  I  did  not  sleep  any — " 

"  Shall  I  get  you  some  tea  ?"  was  the  next  inquiry. 

But  here  the  old  doctor,  who  had  been  stealthily  moving  about 
the  room,  interfered,  and  produced  a  biscuit-box  and  a  decanter 
of  port  wine  and  a  glass ;  while  the  old  lady  begged  Miss  Ross 
to  take  off  her  cloak  and  remain  with  them  a  little  while.  At 
this  moment  Mangan  came  out  from  the  sick-room. 

"  Doctor,"  said  he  in  a  whisper,  "  you  must  go  in  presently ; 
I  think  you'll  see  a  difference.  He  is  quite  pleased  and  con- 
tent— talking  to  himself  a  little,  but  not  complaining  any  more. 
Twice  he  has  said,  '  Maurice,  Nina  has  spoken  at  last.' " 

There  was  a  tinkle  of  a  bell ;  Maurice  answered  it  with  the 
swiftness  of  a  nurse  in  a  hospital.  He  returned  in  a  minute, 
looking  a  little  puzzled. 

"  He  wants  to  make  quite  sure  you  have  been  here,"  he  said 
to  Nina,  in  the  same  undertone ;  "  and  I  told  him  you  were  in 
the  next  room,  but  that  you  were  tired,  and  could  not  see  him 
just  now.  No,  I  don't  think  it  would  do  for  you  to  go  back  at 
present — what  do  you  say,  doctor? — he  seems  so  much  more 
tranquil,  and  it  would  be  a  pity  to  run  any  risk.  But  if  you 
could  just  let  him  know  you  were  here — he  might  hear  your 
talking  to  us — that  would  be  no  harm — " 

"  I  know  how  to  tell  Leo  that  I  am  here,"  Nina  said,  simply ; 
and  she  went  to  the  piano  and  opened  it.  Then,  with  the  most 
exquisite  softness,  she  began  to  play  some  familiar  Neapolitan 
airs — slowly  and  gently,  so  that  they  must  have  sounded  in  the 
sick-chamber  like  mere  echoes  of  song  coming  from  across 
wide  waters.  And  would  he  not  understand  that  it  was  Nina 
who  was  speaking  to  him  ;  that  she  was  only  a  few  yards 
from  him ;  and  not  the  ghostly  Nina  who  had  so  often  come  to 
the  sick-room  door  and  remained  there  strangely  silent,  but  the 
wilful,  gentle,  capricious,   warm-hearted    cianciosella   who    had 


Co 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  401 

kissed  his  hand  but  a  little  while  ago,  and  wept  over  it,  amid 
her  bitter  sobs.  These  were  love-songs  for  the  most  part  that 
she  was  playing;  but  that  was  neither  here  nor  there ;  the  soft, 
rippling  notes  were  more  like  the  sound  of  a  trickling  waterfall 
in  some  still  summer  solitude.  '■'■  Cannetella,  oje  Cannete  P'' 
"  Chello  che  tu  me  dice,  Nenna,non  boglio  fa .''''  '■'■  lo  te  voglio 
bene  assaje,  e  tu  non  pienz'  a  me .'"  He  would  know  it  was  Nina 
who  was  playing  for  him — until  slowly  and  more  slowly,  and 
gently  and  more  gently,  the  velvet-soft  notes  gradually  ceased, 
and  at  length  there  was  silence. 

Old  Mrs.  Moore  went  over  to  the  girl  and  patted  her  affec- 
tionately on  the  shoulder  and  kissed  her. 

"  Lionel  has  told  us  a  great  deal  about  you,"  the  old  lady  said  ; 
"  even  when  he  was  in  Naples  we  seemed  to  know  you  quite 
well ;  and  now  I  hope  we  shall  be  friends." 

And  Nina  made  answer,  with  downcast  eyes  : 

"  Whenever  you  wish  it,  madame,  I  shall  be  glad  to  come  and 
play  a  little — if  he  cares  to  hear  the  Neapolitan  airs  that  he  used 
to  know  in  former  days." 

Yes,  there  was  no  doubt  that  this  opportune  visit  had  made  a 
great  difference  in  Lionel's  condition ;  for,  though  the  fever  did 
not  abate — and  could  not  be  expected  to  abate  until  the  crisis 
had  been  reached,  there  were  no  more  of  those  agonized  plead- 
ings and  murmurings  that  showed  such  deep  distress  of  mind. 
Frequently,  indeed,  he  seemed  to  know  nothing  of  what  had  oc- 
curred ;  he  would  talk  of  Nina  as  being  in  Naples  or  as  having 
gone  down  to  the  theatre ;  but  all  the  same  he  was  more  tran- 
quil. As  for  Nina,  she  said  she  would  do  just  as  they  wished. 
She  had  arrived  in  London  that  morning,  and  had  gone  to  Mrs. 
Grey's,  in  Sloane  Street,  and  engaged  a  room.  She  could  go 
down  there  now,  and  wait  until  she  was  sent  for,  if  they  thought 
it  would  please  Lionel  to  know  that  one  of  his  former  compan- 
ions had  come  to  see  him.  She  put  it  very  prettily  and  mod- 
estly ;  it  was  only  as  an  old  ally  and  comrade  of  Lionel's  that 
she  was  here ;  perhaps  he  might  be  glad  to  know  of  her  pres- 
ence. Or,  if  they  thought  that  might  disturb  him,  she  would 
not  come  back  at  all ;  she  would  be  content  to  hear,  from  time 
to  time,  how  the  fever  was  going  on,  if  she  might  be  permitted 
to  call  and  ask  the  people  below. 

It  was  Maurice  who  answered  her. 


402  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  If  you  don't  mind,  Miss  Ross,"  said  he,  "  I  should  like  you 
to  be  here  just  as  much  as  ever  you  found  convenient.  I  keep 
telling  Lionel  you  are  in  the  next  room  ;  and  that,  at  any  moment 
he  wants,  you  will  play  some  of  those  Neapolitan  airs  for  him ; 
and  he  seems  satisfied.  It  has  been  the  worst  part  of  liis  delir- 
ium that  he  fancied  you  were  away  in  some  distant  place  and 
were  being  cruelly  ill-used,  and  he  has  excited  himself  dread- 
fully about  it.  Well,  we  don't  want  that  to  come  back ;  and  if 
at  any  moment  I  can  say,  '  But  look ! — here  is  Nina ' — I  beg 
your  pardon !"  said  Mangan,  blushing  furiously,  and  looking  as 
sheepish  as  a  caught  school-boy.  "  I  mean  if  I  could  say  to  him, 
'  Look  I  here  is  Miss  Ross,  perfectly  safe  and  well,'  that  would 
pacify  him." 

"  And  if  you  are  fatigued  after  your  journey,"  said  Dr.  Moore, 
who  was  a  firm  believer  in  the  fine,  old-fashioned  fortifying  the- 
ory, "  we  shall  be  having  our  midday  meal  by  and  by,  in  a  room 
up-stairs,  and  I'm  sure  we'll  make  you  heartily  welcome." 

"  And  I  think,  my  dear,"  said  the  mother,  rising  from  her 
chair  and  taking  the  girl  kindly  by  the  hand,  "  that  if  you  and  I 
and  Francie  were  to  go  up  there  now  we  should  be  more  out  of 
the  way ;  and  there  would  be  no  chance  of  our  talking  being 
heard." 

It  was  at  this  plain  but  substantial  midday  meal,  served  in  an 
up-stairs  room,  that  Nina  incidentally  told  them  something  of 
her  adventures  and  experiences  during  the  past  six  months, 
though,  of  course,  nothing  was  said  about  her  reasons  for  leav- 
ing London.  Maurice  happened  to  inquire  where  it  was  that 
she  had  heard  of  Lionel's  illness. 

"  In  Glasgow,"  said  Nina.  "  I  saw  about  it  in  a  newspaper 
yesterday ;  I  came  up  by  the  train  last  night,  because — because — " 
here  some  slight  color  appeared  in  the  pale,  clear  complexion — 
"  because  if  an  old  friend  is  very  ill  one  wishes  to  be  near." 
And  perhaps  it  was  to  escape  from  this  little  embarrassment 
that  she  proceeded  to  say  :  "  Oh,  they  are  so  kind,  the  Glasgow 
people ;  I  have  never  seen  such  domesticity."  She  glanced  at 
Maurice,  as  if  to  see  whether  the  word  was  riglit ;  then  she  went 
on.  "  When  I  was  engaged  by  the  director  of  the  Saturday 
Evening  Concerts  he  told  me  that  they  had  to  change  their  sing- 
ers frequently  ;  that  if  I  wished  to  remain  in  Glasgow  or  Edin- 
burgh 1  must  sing  at  i)rivatc  concerts  and  give  lessons  to  have 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  403 

continual  employment.  And  there  was  not  much  difficulty ; 
oh,  they  are  so  enthusiastic,  the  Scotch  people,  about  music ! — 
to  sing  in  the  St.  Andrew's  Hall  or  the  City  Uall — and  espe- 
cially if  you  sing  one  of  their  own  Scotch  songs — the  enthusi- 
asm, the  applause  —  it  is  like  fire  going  through  the  nerves. 
Well,  it  is  very  pleasant,  but  it  is  not  enough  employment,  even 
though  I  get  one  or  two  other  engagements,  like  the  Edinburgh 
Orchestral  Festival.  No,  it  is  not  enough ;  but  then  I  began  to 
sing  at  musical  evenings,  in  the  fashionable  private  houses,  and 
also  to  give  lessons  in  the  daytime ;  and  then  it  was  I  began  to 
know  the  kindness  of  that  people,  their  consideration,  their  be- 
nignitance  to  a  stranger,  their  good-humor,  and  good  wishes  to 
you.  Oh,  a  little  brusque  sometimes,  the  father  of  a  family, 
perhaps ;  the  lady  of  the  house  and  her  daughters  —  never ! 
More  than  once  a  lady  has  said  to  me,  '  What,  are  you  all  alone 
in  this  big  town? — my  daughters  will  call  for  you  to-morrow 
and  take  you  to  the  Botanic  Gardens ;  and  after  you  will  come 
back  to  tea.'  Or,  again,  they  have  shown  me  photographs  of  a 
beautiful  large  house — like  a  castle,  almost — on  the  side  of  a 
hill,  among  trees ;  and  they  say,  '  That  is  our  house  in  the  sum- 
mer ;  it  is  by  the  sea ;  if  you  are  here  in  the  summer,  you  must 
come  and  stay  with  us,  and  you  will  play  lawn-tennis  with  the 
girls  and  go  boating  with  thera  and  fishing  all  day  ;  then  ev- 
ery evening  we  will  have  a  little  concert — ' " 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,"  interposed  the  blunt-tongued  doctor, 
"  but  do  you  call  that  Scotch  hospitality.  Miss  Ross  ? — to  invite 
a  professional  singer  to  their  houses  and  get  her  services  for 
nothing  ?" 

"  Ah,  no,  no,  you  mistake,"  said  Nina,  putting  up  the  palm  of 
her  right  hand  for  a  second.  "  You  mistake.  I  was  offered 
terms  as  well — generous,  oh,  yes,  very  generous ;  but  it  was  not 
that  that  impressed  me — it  was  their  kindness — their  admitting 
me  into  their  domesticity — I  have  found  the  mother  as  kind  to 
me  as  to  her  own  daughters.  No  airs  of  patronage ;  they  did 
not  say,  'You  are  a  foreigner;  we  cannot  trust  you ;'  they  said, 
*  You  are  alone ;  come  into  our  family,  and  be  friends  with  us.' 
But  not  at  once  ;  no,  no  ;  for  at  first  I  did  not  know  any  one — " 

"  I  should  think  it  would  be  easy  for  you  to  make  friends  any- 
where," said  Francie,  in  her  gentle  fashion. 

They  did  not  linger  long  over  that  meal ;  it  was  hardly  a  time 


404  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

for  feasting ;  indeed,  Maurice  had  gone  down  before  the  others, 
to  hear  the  nurse's  report.  She  had  nothing  to  say ;  the  sick- 
room had  been  so  still,  she  had  not  even  ventured  in,  hoping  the 
patient  was  asleep. 

That  afternoon  there  were  many  callers ;  and  Mangan,  who 
went  down  to  such  of  them  as  wanted  to  have  special  intelli- 
gence, was  pleased  in  a  way,  "  Well,"  he  would  say  to  himself, 
as  he  went  up  and  down  the  stairs,  "  the  public  have  a  little  grat- 
itude, after  all,  and  even  mere  acquaintances  do  think  of  you 
occasionally.  It  is  something.  But  if  you  should  go  under,  if 
you  should  drop  out  from  amid  the  universal  forward-hurrying 
throno-,  what  then  ?  If  you  have  done  something  that  can  be 
mentioned,  in  art  or  letters  or  science,  the  newspapers  may  toss 
you  a  paragraph ;  or  if  you  have  been  a  notorious  criminal  or 
charlatan  or  windbag,  they  may  even  devote  a  leader  to  you ; 
but  the  multitude — what  time  have  they  to  think  ?  A  careless 
eve  glances  at  the  couple  of  obituary  lines  that  have  been  paid 
for  by  relatives ;  then  onwards  again.  Perhaps,  here  and  there, 
one  solitary  heart  is  struck  deep,  and  remembers ;  but  the  or- 
dinary crowd  of  one's  acquaintances — what  time  have  they? 
Good-bye,  friend  ! — but  we  are  in  such  a  hurry  1"  Nevertheless, 
he  was  glad  to  tell  Lionel  of  these  callers,  and  of  their  flowers 
and  cards  and  messages  and  what  not. 

On  this  Tuesday  afternoon  Miss  Burgoyne  also  called ;  but, 
hearing  that  there  were  some  relations  come,  she  would  not  go 
up-stairs.     Maurice  went  down  to  see  her. 

<'  What  brought  on  this  fever  ?"  she  asked,  after  the  usual  in- 
quiries. 

"  A  variety  of  causes,  I  should  imagine,"  he  answered.  "  The 
immediate  one  was  a  severe  chill." 

"  They  say  he  has  lost  all  his  money  and  is  deeply  in  debt," 
she  observed. 

"Who  says?"  he  demanded — too  sharply,  for  he  did  not  like 
this  woman. 

"  Oh,  I  have  heard  of  it,"  she  answered. 

"  It  is  not  true  then.  I  don't  know  of  his  being  in  debt  at  all ; 
if  he  is,  he  has  friends  who  will  see  him  through  until  he  gets  all 
right  again." 

"  Oh,  well,"  she  said,  apparently  much  relieved,  "  it  is  of  no 
great  consequence,  so  long  as  his  voice  is  not  touched.     Witli 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  405 

his  voice  he  can  always  retrieve  himself  and  keep  well  ahead. 
They  do  tell  such  stories.  Thank  you,  Mr.  Mangan.  Good- 
bye." 

"  Good-bye,"  said  he,  with  unnecessary  coldness ;  why  should 
a  disciple  of  Marcus  Aurelius  take  umbrage  at  any  manifestation 
of  our  common  human  nature  ? 

She  turned  for  a  moment  as  he  opened  the  door  for  her. 

"  Tell  him  I  called ;  and  that  his  portrait  and  mine  are  to  ap- 
pear in  this  week's  Footlights — in  the  same  number." 

"  Very  well." 

»  Good-bye  1" 

When  Dr.  Ballardyce  came  that  evening  to  make  his  usual 
examination,  his  report  was  of  a  twofold  character :  the  fever 
was  still  ravaging  the  now  enfeebled  constitution — the  temper- 
ature, in  especial,  being  seriously  high ;  but  the  patient  seemed 
much  calmer  in  mind. 

"  Indeed,"  said  the  doctor  to  Maurice,  at  the  foot  of  the  stairs, 
as  he  was  going  away,  "  I  should  say  that  for  the  moment  the 
delirium  was  quite  gone.  But  I  did  not  speak  much  to  him. 
Quiet  is  the  great  thing — sleep  above  all." 

Then  Maurice  told  him  what  had  happened  during  the  day, 
and  asked  him  whether,  supposing  they  found  Lionel  quite  sane 
and  sensible,  it  would  be  advisable  to  tell  him  that  Miss  Ross  was 
in  the  house,  or  even  ask  her  to  go  and  see  him. 

"  Well,  I  should  say  not — not  unless  he  appears  to  be  troubled 
again.  His  present  tranquillity  of  mind  is  everything  that  could 
be  wished  ;  I  would  not  try  any  unnecessary  experiment.  Prob- 
ably he  does  not  know  now  that  he  has  even  seen  her.  Some- 
times they  have  a  vague  recollection  of  something  having  hap- 
pened ;  more  frequently  the  whole  thing  is  forgotten.  Wait 
till  we  see  how  the  fever  goes ;  when  he  is  convalescent — per- 
haps then." 

But  Maurice,  on  his  own  responsibility,  went  into  the  sick- 
room after  the  doctor  had  left — went  in  on  tip-toe,  lest  Lionel 
should  be  asleep.     He  was  not  asleep.     He  looked  at  Mangan. 

"  Maurice,  come  here,"  he  said,  in  a  hard-laboring  voice. 

"You're  not  to  talk,  Linn,"  his  friend  answered,  with  a  fine 
affectation  of  carelessness.  "  I  merely  looked  in  to  see  how  you 
were  getting  on.  There's  no  news.  The  government  seem  to 
be  in  a  mess,  but  even  their  own  friends  arc  ashamed  of  their 


406  PRINCE    F0RTUNATU8. 

vacillation.  They're  talking  of  still  another  lyric  theatre  ;  you'll 
have  to  save  up  your  voice,  Linn — by  Jove !  you  fellows  will  be 
in  tremendous  request.  What  else  ?  Oh,  nothing.  There's 
been  a  plucky  thing  done  by  a  servant-girl  in  rescuing  two  chil- 
dren from  a  fire — if  there's  a  little  testimonial  to  her,  I'm  in 
with  my  humble  guinea.  But  there's  nothing  in  the  papers — 
I'm  glad  I'm  not  a  leader-writer." 

He  went  and  got  some  more  water  for  a  jug  of  white  lilies 
that  stood  on  the  table,  and  began  to  put  things  a  little  straight 
— as  if  he  were  a  woman. 

"  Maurice  !" 

"  You're  not  to  talk,  Linn,  I  tell  you  !" 

"  I  must — just  a  word,"  Lionel  said,  and  Mangan  was  forced 
to  listen.     "  What  does  the  doctor  really  say  ?" 

"  About  you  ? — oh,  you're  going  on  first-rate  !  Only  you've 
to  keep  still  and  quiet  and  not  trouble  about  anything." 

"  What  day  is  this  ?" 

"  Why,  Tuesday." 

He  thought  for  a  little. 

"  It — it  was  a  Saturday  I  was  taken  ill  ?  I  have  forgotten  so 
many  things.  But — but  there's  this,  Maurice  ;  if  anything  hap- 
pens to  me — the  piano  in  the  next  room — it  belongs  to  me — you 
will  give  that  to  Francie  for  her  wedding-present.  I  would  have 
— given  her  something  more,  but  you  know.  And  if  you  ever 
hear  of  Nina  Rossi,  will  you  ask  her  to — to  take  some  of  the 
things  in  a  box  you'll  find  on  the  top  of  the  piano — they  all  be- 
longed to  her — if  she  won't  take  them  all  back,  she  must  take 
some — as  a — as  a  keepsake.  She  ought  to  do  that.  Perhaps 
she  won't  think  I  treated  her  so  badly — when  it's  all  over — " 

He  lav  back  exhausted  with  this  effort. 

"  Oh,  stuff  and  nonsense,  Linn  !"  his  friend  exclaimed,  in  ap- 
parent anger.  "  What's  the  use  of  talking  like  that !  You  know 
you  were  worried  into  this  illness,  and  I  want  to  explain  to  you 
that  you  needn't  worry  any  longer,  that  you've  nothing  to  do 
but  get  well !  Now  listen — and  be  quiet.  To  begin  with.  Lord 
Rockminster  has  got  his  three  hundred  pounds — " 

"  I  remember  about  that — it  was  awfully  good  of  you,  Mau- 
rice— " 

"  lie  quiet.  Then  there's  that  diabolical  eleven  hundred  pounds. 
Well,  things  have  to  be  faced,"  continued  Mangan,  with  a  matter- 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  407 

of -fact  air.  "  It's  no  use  sighing  and  groaning  when  you  or  your 
friends  are  in  a  pickle ;  you've  just  got  to  make  the  best  of  it. 
Very  well.  Do  you  see  this  slip  of  paper  ? — this  is  a  check  for 
eleven  hundred  pounds,  drawn  out  and  signed  by  me,  Maurice 
Mangan,  barrister-at-law,  and  author  of  several  important  works 
not  yet  written.  I  took  it  up  this  afternoon  to  that  young  fel- 
low's rooms  in  Bruton  Street,  to  get  a  receipt  for  the  money,  for 
I  thought  that  would  satisfy  you  better ;  but  I  found  he  was  in 
Paris.  Never  mind.  There  is  the  check,  and  I  am  going  to  post 
it  directly,  so  that  he  will  get  it  the  moment  he  returns — " 

"  Maurice,  you  must  ask  Francie." 

*'  I  will  not  ask  Francie,"  his  friend  said,  promptly.  "  Francie 
must  attend  to  her  own  affairs  until  she  has  acquired  the  legal 
right  to  control  me  and  mine.  You  needn't  make  a  fuss  about 
a  little  thing  like  that,  Linn.  I  can  easily  make  it  up ;  in  fact, 
I  may  say  I  have  already  secured  a  means  of  making  it  up,  as  a 
telegram  I  received  this  very  afternoon  informs  me.  Here  is 
the  story :  I  can  talk  to  you,  if  you  may  not  talk  to  me,  and  I 
want  you  to  know  that  everything  is  straight  and  clear  and  ar- 
ranged. About  ten  days  ago  I  had  a  letter  from  a  syndicate  in 
the  North  asking  me  if  I  could  write  for  them  a  weekly  article 
— not  a  London  correspondent's  news-letter — but  a  series  of 
comments  on  the  important  subjects  of  the  day,  outside  politics. 
Outside  politics,  of  course ;  for  I  dare  say  they  will  supply  this 
article  to  sixty  or  eighty  country  papers.  Very  well.  You 
know  what  a  lazy  wretch  I  am ;  I  declined.  Then  yesterday, 
when  I  was  dawdling  about  the  house  here,  it  suddenly  occurred 
to  me  that  after  all  I  couldn't  do  better  than  sit  down  and  write 
to  my  enterprising  friends  in  the  North,  and  tell  them  that  they 
could  have  that  weekly  column  of  enlightenment,  if  they  hadn't 
engaged  any  one  else,  and  if  they  were  prepared  to  pay  well 
enough  for  it.  This  afternoon  comes  their  answer ;  here  it  is : 
*  Offer  still  open ;  will  four  hundred  suit  you  ?'  Four  hundred 
pounds  a  year  will  suit  me  very  well." 

"  Maurice,  you're  taking  on  all  that  additional  work  on  my 
account,"  Lionel  managed  to  say,  by  way  of  feeble  protest. 

"  I  am  taking  it  on  to  cure  myself  of  atrocious  habits  of  in- 
dolence. And  look  at  the  educational  process.  I  shall  have  to 
read  all  the  important  new  books,  and  attend  the  Private  Views, 
and  examine  the  woi-kini;      local  government :  bless  vou  !  I  shall 


408  PRIXCE    FORTUNATUS. 

become  a  compendium  of  information  on  every  possible  modern 
subject.  Then  tbink  of  the  power  I  shall  wield ;  let  Quirk  and 
bis  gang  beware  ! — I  shall  be  able  to  kick  those  log-rollers  all 
over  the  country — there  will  be  a  buffet  for  them  here,  and  a 
buffet  for  them  there,  until  they'll  go  to  their  mothers  and  ask, 
with  tears  in  their  eyes,  why  they  ever  were  born.  Or  will  it 
be  worth  while  ?  No.  They  are  hardly  important  enough ;  the 
public  don't  heed  them.  But  the  four  hundred  pounds  is  re- 
markably important — to  any  one  looking  forward  to  having  an 
extravagant  spendthrift  of  a  wife  on  his  hands,  and  so  you  see, 
Linn,  everything  promises  well.  And  I  will  say  good-night  to 
you  now — though  I  am  not  leaving  the  house  yet — oh,  no  ! — 
you  can  send  the  nurse  for  me  if  you  want  me.     Schlaf  ivohl  /" 

The  sick  man  murmured  something  unintelligible  in  reply, 
and  then  lay  still. 

Now  Maurice  Mangan  had  spoken  of  his  dawdling  about  this 
house ;  but  the  fact  was  that  he  had  his  hands  full  from  morn- 
ing till  night.  The  mere  correspondence  he  had  to  answer  was 
considerable.  Then  there  were  the  visitors  and  the  doctors  to 
be  received,  and  the  nurse  to  be  looked  after,  and  the  anxious 
mother  to  be  appeased  and  reassured.  Indeed,  on  this  evening, 
the  old  lady,  hearing  that  her  son  was  sensible,  begged  and  en- 
treated to  be  allowed  to  go  in  and  talk  to  him,  and  it  took  both 
her  husband  and  Maurice  to  dissuade  her. 

"  You  see,"  said  Mangan,  "  he's  used  to  me ;  he  doesn't  mind 
my  going  in  and  out ;  but  if  he  finds  you  have  all  come  up  from 
Winstead,  he  may  be  suddenly  alarmed.  Better  wait  until  the 
crisis  is  over — then  you  may  take  the  place  of  the  nurse  when- 
ever you  like." 

Shortly  thereafter  the  old  people  and  Francie  left  for  their 
hotel ;  then  Maurice  had  to  see  about  Nina,  whom  they  had  left 
in  the  up-stairs  room. 

"Just  as  you  wish,"  she  said,  with  a  kind  of  pathetic  humility 
in  her  eyes.  "  If  I  can  be  of  any  service,  I  will  stay  all  the 
night ;  a  chair,  here,  will  be  enough  for  me.  Indeed,  I  should 
be  glad  to  be  allowed — " 

"  No,  no,"  said  lie,  "  at  present  you  could  not  be  of  any  use  ; 
you  must  get  away  home  and  have  a  sound  night's  rest  after 
your  travelling.  I  have  just  called  the  nurse  ;  she  will  be  down 
in  a  minute.     And  if  you  will  put  on  your  things  t  will  send 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  4O9 

for  a  four-wheeled  cab  for  you ;  or  I  will  walk  along  with  you 
until  we  get  one." 

All  day  long  Nina  had  betrayed  no  outward  anxiety  ;  she  had 
merely  listened  intently  to  every  word,  watched  intently  the 
expression  of  every  face,  as  the  doctors  came  and  went.  And 
now,  as  Mangan  shut  the  door  behind  them,  he  did  not  care  to 
discuss  the  chances  of  the  fever ;  it  was  a  subject  all  too  uncer- 
tain and  too  serious  for  a  few  farewell  words.  But  there  was 
one  point  on  which,  delicate  as  it  might  be,  he  felt  bound  to 
question  her. 

"  Miss  Ross,"  said  he, "  I  hope  you  won't  think  me  imperti- 
nent. You  must  consider  I  represent  Lionel.  I  am  in  his  place. 
Very  well;  he  would  probably  ask  you,  in  coming  so  suddenly 
to  London,  whether  you  were  quite  sufficiently  provided  with 
funds — you  see  1  am  quite  blunt  about  it — for  your  lodgings 
and  cabs  and  so  forth.  I  know  he  would  ask  you,  and  you 
wouldn't  be  angry ;  well,  consider  that  1  ask  you  in  his  place." 

"  I  thank  you,"  said  Nina,  in  a  low  voice.  "  I  understand. 
It  is  what  Leo  would  do — yes — h^  was  always  like  that.  But  I 
have  plenty.  I  have  brought  everything  with  me.  I  do  not  go 
back  to  Glasgow." 

"  No  ?"  said  he,  and  then,  rather  hesitatingly,  for  it  was  dan- 
gerous ground,  he  added,  "  Wasn't  it  strange  that,  with  you 
singing  at  those  public  concerts  in  Glasgow,  Lionel  should  never 
have  seen  your  name  in  the  papers — should  never  have  guessed 
where  you  were  ?" 

"  I  took  another  name — Signorina  Teresa  I  was,"  Nina  said, 
simply. 

"  So  you  are  not  going  back  to  Glasgow  ?"  he  asked  again. 

"  No.  The  concert  season  is  about  over  there.  Besides," 
she  added,  rather  sadly, "  I  have  been — a  little — a  little  homesick. 
The  people  there  were  very  kind  to  me,  but  I  was  much  alone. 
So  now — when  Lionel  is  over  the  worst  of  the  fever — when  he 
promises  to  get  well — when  you  say  to  me  I  can  be  of  no  more 
use — then  I  return  to  Naples  to  my  friends." 

"  Oh,  to  Naples  ?  But  what  to  do  there  ?"  he  made  bold  to 
ask. 

*'  Ah,  who  knows  ?"  said  Nina,  in  so  low  a  voice  that  he  could 
hardly  hear. 

He  put  her  safely  into  a  four-wheeled  cab ;  then  went  back 
18 


410  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

to  Lionel's  rooms  to  see  that  all  arrangements  were  made  for  the 
night ;  finally  he  set  out  for  his  own  chambers  in  Westminster. 
No,  it  had  not  been  a  dawdling  day  for  him  at  all ;  on  the  con- 
trary, he  had  not  had  time  to  glance  at  a  single  newspaper,  and 
now,  as  he  got  some  hot  drink  for  himself  and  lit  his  pipe  and 
hauled  in  an  easy-chair  to  the  fire,  he  thought  he  would  look 
over  the  evening  journals.  And  about  the  first  paragraph  he 
saw  was  headed,  "  Death  of  Sir  Barrington  Miles,  M.  P."  Well, 
it  was  a  bit  of  a  coincidence,  he  considered ;  nothing  more  ;  the 
£1100  had  been  paid,  and,  apart  from  that  circumstance,  it  must 
be  confessed,  his  interest  in  the  Miles  family  was  of  the  slight- 
est. Only  he  wondered  what  the  young  man  was  doing  in  Paris, 
with  his  father  so  near  the  point  of  death. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

CHANGES. 

Shortly  after  ten  on  the  Wednesday  morning  a  young  gen- 
tleman clad  in  travelling  costume  drove  up  to  the  door  of  a  house 
in  Edge  ware  Road,  got  out  of  the  hansom,  stepped  across  the 
pavement,  and  rang  the  bell.  The  smart  little  maid-servant  who 
answered  the  summons  appeared  to  know  him,  but  was  naturally 
none  the  less  surprised  by  so  early  a  visit. 

"  Miss  Burgoyne  isn't  down  yet,  sir !"  she  said,  in  answer  to 
his  inquiries. 

"  Very  well,  I  will  wait,"  said  the  young  man,  who  seemed 
rather  hurried  and  nervous.  "  Will  you  tell  her  that  I  wish  to 
see  her  on  a  matter  of  great  importance.  She  will  know  what 
it  is." 

Well,  it  was  not  the  business  of  this  rosy-checked  maid  to 
check  the  vagaries  of  impetuous  lovers ;  she  merely  said, 

*'  Will  you  step  up-stairs,  sir ;  there's  a  fire  in  the  morning- 
room." 

She  led  the  way,  and  when  she  had  left  him  in  the  bright  lit- 
tle chamber — where  breakfast-things  for  one  were  laid  on  the 
table — she  departed  to  find,  perhaps  to  arouse,  her  mistress.  The 
young  man  went  to  the  window  and  stared  into  the  street.  He 
returned  to  the  fire  and   stared  into  the  red  flames.     He  took 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  411 

up  a  newspaper  that  was  on  the  table  and  opened  it,  but  could 
not  fix  his  attention.  And  no  wonder ;  for  he  had  just  suc- 
ceeded to  a  baronetcy  and  the  extensive  Petmansworth  estates ; 
and  he  was  determined  to  win  a  bride  as  well — even  as  he  was 
on  his  way  to  his  father's  funeral. 

It  was  some  considerable  time  before  Miss  Burgoyne  came 
down,  and  when  she  did  make  her  appearance  she  seemed 
none  too  well  pleased  by  this  unconscionable  intrusion ;  at 
the  same  time  she  had  paid  some  little  attention  to  her  face, 
and  she  wore  a  most  charming-  tea-gown  of  pink  and  sage- 
green. 

"  Well  ?"  she  said,  rather  coldly.  "  What  now  ?  I  thought 
you  had  gone  over  to  Paris." 

"But  don't  you  know  what  has  happened?"  he  said,  rather 
breathlessly. 

"  What  has  happened  ?" 

He  took  up  the  newspapei*,  opened  it,  and  handed  it  to  her 
in  silence,  showing  her  a  particular  paragraph. 

"  Oh  !"  she  said,  with  startled  eyes,  and  yet  she  read  the  lines 
slowly,  to  give  time  for  consideration.  And  then  she  recollected 
that  she  ought  to  express  sympathy.  "  I  am  so  very  sorry — so 
sudden  and  unexpected  ;  it  must  have  been  such  a  shock  to  you. 
But,"  she  added,  after  a  second — "  but  why  are  you  here  ?  You 
ought  to  have  gone  home  at  once." 

"  Pm  on  my  way  home — I  only  got  the  telegram  yesterday 
afternoon — I  reached  London  this  morning,"  the  young  man 
said,  disconnectedly ;  all  his  eager  and  wistful  attention  was 
concentrated  on  her  face  :  what  answer  was  about  to  appear 
there  to  his  urgent  prayer  ?  "  Don't  you  understand  why  I  am 
here,  dear  Kate  ?"  said  he,  and  he  advanced  a  little,  but  very 
timidly. 

"  Well,  really,"  said  she,  for  she  was  bound  to  appear  a  trifle 
shocked,  "  when  such  a  dreadful  thing  happens — your  father's 
sudden  death — really  I  think  that  should  be  the  first  thing  in 
your  mind ;  I  think  you  ought  not  to  delay  a  moment  in  going 
home." 

"You  think  me  heartless,  but  you  don't  understand,"  said  he, 
eager  to  justify  himself  in  her  eyes.  "  Of  course  Pm  sorry. 
But  my  father  and  I  never  got  on  very  well ;  he  was  always  try- 
ing to  thwart  me." 


412  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  Yes,  but  for  tlie  sake  of  mere  outward  form  and  decency," 
she  ventured  to  say. 

"  That's  just  it !"  he  said,  quickly.  "  I'll  have  to  go  away 
down  there,  and  I  don't  know  how  long  I  may  be  kept ;  and — 
and — I  thought  if  I  could  take  with  me  some  assurance  that 
these  altered  circumstances  would  weigh  with  you — you  see, 
dear  Kate,  I  am  my  own  master  now,  I  can  do  what  I  like — and 
you  know  what  it  is  I  ask.  Now  tell  me — you  will  be  my  wife  ! 
I  can  quite  understand  your  hesitating  before  ;  I  was  dependent 
upon  my  father ;  if  he  had  disapproved  there  might  have  been 
trouble  ;  but  now  it  is  different." 

Miss  Burgoyne  stood  silent,  her  eyes  fixed  on  the  floor,  her 
fingers  interclasped.  He  looked  at  her.  Then,  finding  she  had 
no  answer  for  him,  a  curious  change  of  expression  came  over 
his  face. 

"  And  if  you  hesitate  now,"  he  said,  vindictively,  "  I  know 
the  reason,  and  I  know  it  is  a  reason  you  may  as  well  put  out 
of  your  mind.  Oh,  I  am  quite  aware  of  the  shilly-shallying  that 
has  been  going  on  between  you  and  that  fellow  Moore — I  know 
you've  been  struck,  like  all  the  rest  of  the  women — but  you  may 
as  well  give  up  that  fancy.  Mr.  Moore  isn't  much  of  a  catch, 
now  .■'" 

She  raised  her  head,  and  there  was  an  angry  flash  in  her  eyes 
that  for  a  second  frightened  him. 

"  Magnanimous  !"  she  said,  with  a  curl  of  her  lip.  "  To  taunt 
a  man  with  being  ill,  when  perhaps  he  is  lying  on  his  death- 
bed !" 

*'  It  is  not  because  he  is  ill,"  he  retorted,  and  his  naturally 
pale  face  was  somewhat  paler,  "  I  dare  say  he'll  get  well  enough 
again.  It  is  because  he  is  dead  broke  and  ruined.  And  do  you 
know  who  did  it  ?"  he  went  on,  more  impetuously  still.  "  Well, 
I  did  it !  I  said  I  would  break  him,  and  I  broke  him.  I  knew 
he  was  only  playing  with  you  and  making  a  fool  of  you,  and  I 
said  to  myself  that  I  would  have  it  out  with  him — either  he  or  I 
would  have  to  go  to  the  right  about.  I  said  I  would  smash  hiin, 
and  I  have  smashed  him.  Do  you  see  this  check?  That  was 
waiting  for  me  at  my  rooms  this  morning.  Eleven  hundred 
pounds — that  was  two  days'  work  only,  and  I  liad  plenty  more 
before.  liut  do  you  think  it  is  his  check?  Not  a  bit!  Tt  is 
drawn  out  liy  a  friend  of  his.      It  is  lent  him.      Wo  is  just  so 


PRINCE    F0RTUNATU8.  4I3 

much  the  more  in  debt,  and  I  don't  believe  he  has  a  farthing  in 
the  world.  And  that's  the  wonderful  creature  all  you  women 
are  worshipping !" 

Now  this  foolish  boy  ought  to  have  taken  care,  but  he  had 
been  carried  away  on  a  whirlwind  of  jealous  rage.  All  the  time 
that  he  was  pouring  forth  his  vengeful  story.  Miss  Burgoyne's 
face  had  become  more  and  more  hard  ;  and  when  he  ceased,  she 
answered  him,  in  low  and  measured  tones  that  conveyed  the  most 
bitter  scorn. 

*'  Yes,"  she  said,  "  we  women  are  worthy  of  being  despised, 
when — when  we  think  anything  of  such  creatures  as  men  are 
capable  of  showing  themselves  to  be !  Oh,  it  is  a  fine  time  to 
come  and  boast  of  what  you  have  done,  when  the  man  you  hate 
— when  the  man  you  fear — is  lying  ill,  delirious,  perhaps  dying. 
That  is  the  time  to  boast  of  your  strength,  your  prowess !  And 
how  dare  you  come  to  me,"  she  continued,  with  a  sudden  toss 
of  her  head,  "  with  all  this  story  of  gambling  and  debt?  What 
is  it  to  me  ?  It  seems  that  is  the  way  men  fight  now — with  a 
pack  of  cards !  That  is  fighting  between  men,  and  the  victor 
waves  a  check  in  triumph,  and  comes  and  brags  about  it  to 
women  !  Well — I — I  don't  appreciate — such — such  manliness. 
I  think  you  had  better — go  and  see  to  your  father's  funeral — 
instead  of — of  bringing  such  a  story  to  me !"  said  Miss  Bur- 
goyne,  with  heaving  bosom ;  and  it  was  real  indignation  this 
time,  for  there  were  tears  in  her  eyes  as  she  turned  proudly 
away  from  him  and  marched  straight  for  the  door  of  the  room. 

"  For  Heaven's  sake  !"  he  cried,  intercepting  her.  "  Kate,  I 
did  not  mean  to  ofliend  you  !  I  take  back  what  I  said.  How 
could  any  one  help  being  jealous — seeing  your  off-and-on  rela- 
tions with  him  all  this  time,  and  you  would  never  say  one  thing 
or  another.     Forgive  me." 

She  turned  to  him,  and  there  were  still  indignant  tears  in  her 
eyes. 

"  It  isn't  fair  !"  she  said.  "  It  isn't  fair ! — he  is  ill ;  you  might 
have  a  little  humanity." 

"  Yes,  I  know,"  he  said,  quite  humbly  and  imploringly  (for 
this  young  man  was  in  a  bad  way,  and  had  lost  his  head  as  well 
as  his  heart).  "  And  I  didn't  mean  half  what  I  said — indeed  I 
didn't !  And — and  you  shouldn't  reproach  me  with  not  going 
at  once  down  to  Petraansworth,  when  you  know  the  cause.     I 


414  PRINCK    FORTUNATUS. 

shall  be  among  a  lot  of  people  who  won't  know  my  relations  to 
you  ;  I  shall  have  all  kinds  of  duties  before  me  now,  and  I  want- 
ed to  take  with  me  one  word  of  assurance.  Even  if  it  was  only 
sympathy  I  wanted,  why  should  I  not  come  first  to  you,  when 
you  are  the  one  I  care  for  most  in  the  world  ?  Isn't  it  a  proof 
of  that,  when  my  first  thought  is  of  you  when  this  great  change 
has  taken  place  ?  Don't  you  see  how  you  will  be  affected  by  it 
— at  least  if  you  say  yes.  I  know  you  are  fond  of  the  theatre, 
and  of  all  the  flattery  you  get,  and  bouquets  and  newspaper 
notices ;  but  you  might  find  another  way  of  life  just  as  satisfy- 
ing to  your  pride — I  mean  a  natural  pride,  a  self-respect  such  as 
every  woman  should  have.  Oh,  I  don't  mind  your  remaining 
on  the  stage,  for  a  time  anyway ;  we  could  not  be  married  for  at 
least  six  months,  I  suppose,  according  to  usual  observances ;  but 
I  think  if  you  knew  how  you  could  play  the  part  of  great  lady 
down  at  Petmansworth,  that  might  have  as  great  attraction  for 
you  as  the  theatre.  I  was  considering  in  the  train  last  night," 
continued  this  luckless  youth — studying  every  feature  of  his 
mistress's  face  for  some  favorable  sign  of  yielding,  "that  per- 
haps you  might  agree  to  a  private  marriage,  in  a  week  or  two's 
time,  by  private  license,  and  we  could  have  the  marriage  an- 
nounced later  on," 

"  Oh,  Percy,  you  frighten  me,"  said  the  young  lady,  whose 
wrath  was  clearly  being  mollified  by  his  persuasive  words — or 
perhaps  by  other  considerations.  '*  I  couldn't  think  of  such  a 
thing !  Oh,  no,  no  !  "What  would  my  people  say  ?  And  what 
would  the  public  say,  when  it  all  came  out  ?" 

"  I  only  offered  the  suggestion,"  said  he,  submissively.  "  It 
would  be  making  everything  sure,  that  was  all.  But  I  can  quite 
understand  that  a  young  lady  would  rather  have  a  grand  wed- 
ding, and  presents,  and  a  list  of  friends  in  the  Morning  Post : 
well,  I  don't  insist ;  it  was  only  a  fancy  I  had  last  night  in  the 
train,  but  I  am  sure  I  would  rather  study  your  wishes  in  every 
respect." 

She  stood  silent  for  a  little  time,  he  intently  waiting  her  an- 
swer. 

"  It  is  too  serious  a  matter  for  me  to  decide  by  myself,"  she 
said,  at  last,  in  a  low  voice. 

"  But  who  else  has  any  right  to  interfere  ?"  he  exclaimed. 
"  Why  should  you  not  decide  for  yourself  ?     You  know  I  love 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  415 

you — you  have  seen  it ;  and  I  have  waited  and  waited,  and 
borne  with  a  good  deal.  But  then  I  was  hardly  in  a  position  to 
demand  an  answer ;  there  would  have  been  some  risk  on  your 
part,  and  I  hesitated.  Now  there  can  be  none.  Dear  Kate,  you 
are  going  to  say  one  word ! — and  I  shall  go  away  down  to  all 
this  sad  business  that  lies  before  me  with  a  secret  comfort  that 
none  of  them  will  suspect." 

"It  is  too  sudden,  Percy,"  she  said,  lingeringly  ;  I  must  have 
time  to  consider." 

"  What  have  you  to  consider  ?"  he  remonstrated. 

"  A  great  many  things,"  she  said,  evasively.  "  You  don't 
know  how  a  girl  is  situated.  Here  is  papa  coming  to  town  this 
very  morning;  Jim  and  Cicely  have  gone  up  to  Paddington  to 
meet  him.  Well,  I  don't  know  how  he  might  regard  it.  If  you 
wanted  me  to  leave  the  theatre  altogether,  it  would  make  a  great 
difference ;  I  do  a  good  deal  for  Jim  and  Cicely." 

"  But,  Katie,"  he  said,  and  he  took  her  hand  in  spite  of  her, 
"  these  are  only  matters  of  business !  Do  you  think  I  can't 
make  all  that  straight  ?  Say  yes  !" — and  he  strove  to  draw  her 
towards  him,  and  would  have  kissed  her,  but  that  she  withdrew 
a  step,  with  her  cheeks  flushing  prettily  through  the  thin  make- 
up of  the  morning. 

"  You  must  give  me  time,  Percy,"  she  said,  with  downcast 
eyes.     "  I  must  know  what  papa  says." 

"  What  time  ?" 

"  Well — a  week,"  she  said. 

"  A  week  be  it :  I  won't  worry  you  beyond  your  patience, 
dear  Kate,"  said  this  infatuated  young  man.  "  But  I  know 
what  you  will  have  to  say  then — to  make  me  the  happiest  of  hu- 
man beings  alive  on  this  earth.     Good-bye,  dearest !" 

And  with  that  he  respectfully  kissed  her  hand  and  took  his 
leave  ;  and  so  soon  as  she  was  sure  he  was  out  of  the  house 
she  rang  for  breakfast,  and  called  down  to  the  little  maid  to 
look  sharp  with  it,  too.  She  was  startled  and  pleased  in  one 
direction,  and,  in  another,  perhaps  a  trifle  vexed ;  for  what  busi- 
ness had  any  man  coming  bothering  her  with  a  proposal  of  mar- 
riage before  breakfast?  How  could  she  help  displaying  a  little 
temper,  when  she  was  hungry  and  he  ovel*  pertinacious  ?  Yet  she 
hoped  she  had  not  been  too  outspoken  in  her  anger,  for  there 
were  visions  before  her  mind  that  somehow  seemed  asfreeable. 


416  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

That  was  another  anxious  day  for  those  people  in  Piccadilly, 
for  the  fever  showed  no  signs  of  abating,  while  some  slight  de- 
lirium returned  from  time  to  time.  Nina,  of  course,  was  in  con- 
stant attendance  ;  and  when  he  began,  in  his  wanderings,  to 
speak  of  her  and  to  ask  Maurice  what  had  become  of  her,  she 
would  simply  go  into  the  room,  and  take  a  seat  by  the  bedside, 
and  talk  to  him  just  as  if  they  had  met  by  accident  in  the  Pi- 
azza Cavour.  For  he  had  got  it  into  his  head  now  that  they 
were  in  Naples  again. 

"  Oh,  yes,  it  is  all  right,  Leo,"  she  would  say,  putting  her 
cool  hand  on  his  burning  one,  "  they  will  all  be  in  time,  the 
whole  party ;  when  we  get  down  to  the  Hisjxjsta,  they  will  all 
be  there ;  and  perhaps  Sabetta  will  bring  her  zither  in  its  case. 
Then  there  will  be  the  long  sail  across  the  blue  water,  and  Capri 
coming  nearer  and  nearer ;  then  the  landing  and  the  donkeys 
and  the  steep  climb  up  and  up.  Where  shall  we  go,  Leo  ? — to 
the  Hotel  Pagano  or  the  Tiberio  ?  The  Pagano  ? — very  well, 
for  there  is  the  long  balcony  shaded  from  the  sun,  and  after 
luncheon  we  shall  have  chairs  taken  out — yes,  and  you  can 
smoke  there — and  you  will  laugh  to  see  Andrea  go  to  the  front 
of  the  railings  and  sing,  '  Al  ben  de  iuoi  qual  vittima,^  with  his 
arms  stretched  out  like  a  windmill,  and  Carmela  very  angry  with 
him  that  he  is  so  ridiculous.  But  then  no  one  hears — what 
matter  ? — no  one  except  those  perhaps  in  the  small  garden-house 
for  the  billiard.  Will  there  be  moonlight  to-night  before  we 
get  back?  To-morrow  Pandiani  will  grumble.  Well,  let  him 
irrumble  ;  I  am  not  afraid  of  him— no  !" 

So  she  would  carelessly  talk  him  back  into  quietude  again  ;  and 
then  she  would  stealthily  withdraw  from  the  room,  and  perhaps  go 
to  the  piano  and  begin  to  play  some  Neapolitan  air — but  so  soft- 
ly that  the  notes  must  have  come  to  him  like  music  in  a  dream. 

Lord  Rockminster  called  that  afternoon  and  was  shown  up- 
stairs. 

"  I  am  going  down  to  Scotland  to-night,"  said  he  to  Maurice, 
"  and  I  have  just  got  a  telegram  from  Miss  Cunyngham — you 
may  have  heard  of  her  from  Mr.  Moore  ?" 

"  Oh,  yes,"  Mangan  said. 

"  She  wishes  mc  to  bring  her  the  latest  news." 

Well,  he  was  told  what  there  was  to  tell — which  was  not 
much,  amid  all  this  dire  uncertainty,     lie  looked  perplexed. 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  4I7 

"  I  should  like  to  have  taken  Miss  Cunyngham  some  more 
reassuring  message,"  lie  said,  thoughtfully.  "  I  suppose  there 
is  nothing  either  she  or  I  could  do  ?"  And  then  he  drew  Mau- 
rice aside  and  spoke  in  an  undertone.  "  Except  perhaps  this. 
I  have  heard  that  Moore  has  been  playing  a  little  high  of  late — 
and  has  burned  his  fingers.  I  hope  you  won't  let  his  mind  be 
harassed  by  money  matters.  If  a  temporary  loan  will  serve,  and 
for  a  considerable  amount  if  necessary,  I  will  rely  on  your 
writing  to  me  ;  may  I  ?" 

"  It  is  exceedingly  kind  of  you,"  Maurice  said — but  made  no 
further  promise. 

No,  Lionel  had  not  been  forgotten  by  all  his  fashionable 
friends.  That  same  afternoon  a  package  arrived,  which,  accord- 
ing to  custom,  Maurice  opened,  lest  some  acknowledgment  should 
be  necessary.  It  proved  to  be  Lady  Adela  Cunyngham's  new 
novel — the  three  volumes  prettily  bound  in  white  parchment. 

"  Is  the  woman  mad  with  vanity,"  said  Francie,  in  hot  in- 
dignation, "  to  send  him  her  trash  at  such  a  time  as  this  ?" 

Maurice  laughed ;  it  was  not  often  that  the  gentle  Francie 
was  so  vehement. 

"  AVliy,  Francie,  it  was  the  best  she  could  do,"  he  said ;  "  for 
when  he  is  able  to  read  it  will  send  him  to  sleep." 

He  was  still  turning  over  the  leaves  of  the  first  volume. 

*'  Oh,  look  here,"  he  cried.  "  Here  is  the  dedication  :  '  To 
Octavius  Quirk,  Esq.,  M.A.,  in  sincere  gratitude  for  much  kindly 
help  and  encouragement.'  Now,  that  is  very  indiscreet.  The 
log-rollers  don't  like  books  being  dedicated  to  them ;  it  draws 
the  attention  of  the  public  and  exposes  the  game.  Ah,  well, 
not  many  members  of  the  public  will  see  that  dedication  !" 

A  great  change,  however,  was  now  imminent.  Saying  as  lit- 
tle as  possible — indeed,  making  all  kinds  of  evasions  and  ex- 
cuses, so  as  not  to  alarm  the  women-folk — old  Dr.  Moore  inti- 
mated that  he  thought  it  advisable  he  should  sit  up  this  night 
with  Lionel ;  and  Maurice,  though  lie  promised  Francie  he  would 
go  home  as  soon  as  she  and  the  old  lady  had  left,  was  too  rest- 
less to  keep  his  word.  They  feared,  they  hoped — they  knew 
not  what.  Would  the  exhausted  system  hold  out  any  longer 
against  the  wasting  ravages  of  this  fell  disease,  or  succumb  and 
sink  into  coma  and  death  ?  Or  would  Nature  herself  step  in, 
and  with  her  gentle  fingers  close  the  tired  eyes  and  bring  re- 
18* 


418  PKINCE    F0RTUNATU8. 

storing  sleep  and  calm  ?  Maurice  meant  to  go  home,  but  could 
not.  First  of  all,  he  stayed  late.  Then,  when  the  nurse  came 
down,  she  was  bidden  to  go  back  to  bed  again,  if  she  liked. 
Hour  after  hour  passed.  He  threw  himself  on  the  sofa,  but  it 
was  not  to  close  his  eyes.  And  yet  all  seemed  going  well  in 
the  sick-room.  Both  the  doctor  and  he  had  convinced  them- 
selves that  Lionel  was  now  asleep — no  lethargic  stupor  this  time, 
but  actual  sleep,  from  which  everything  was  to  be  hoped.  Mau- 
rice would  not  speak ;  he  wrote  on  slips  of  paper  when  he  had 
anything  to  say.  And  so  the  long  night  went  by,  until  the  win- 
dow-panes slowly  changed  from  black  to  blue,  and  from  blue 
to  gray. 

About  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  old  doctor  came  out 
of  the  room,  and  Maurice  knew  in  a  moment  the  nature  of  his 
tidings. 

"  All  is  going  well,"  he  whispered.  "  The  temperature  is 
steadily  decreasing — nearly  three  degrees  since  last  night — and 
he  is  now  in  a  profound  sleep ;  the  crisis  is  over,  and  happily 
over,  as  I  imagine.  I'm  going  along  to  tell  his  mother  and 
Francie — and  to  go  to  bed  for  a  bit." 

And  Maurice  ?  Well,  here  was  the  nurse  ;  he  was  not  wanted ; 
he  was  a  good-natured  sort  of  person  and  he  had  seen  how  pa- 
tiently and  faithfully  Nina  had  concealed  her  grief  and  done 
mutely  everything  they  wanted  of  her,  A  few  minutes'  drive 
in  a  hansom  would  take  him  down  to  Sloane  Street ;  the  fresh 
air  would  be  pleasant — for  his  head  felt  stupefied  for  want  of 
rest ;  and  why  should  not  Nina  have  this  glad  intelligence  at 
the  first  possible  moment?  So  forth  he  went,  into  the  white 
light  of  the  fresh  April  morning ;  and  presently  he  was  rattling 
away  westward,  as  well  as  the  eastward-flowing  current  of  the 
newly  awakened  town  would  allow.  But  very  much  surprised 
was  he,  when  he  got  to  Mrs.  Grey's  house,  to  find  that  Nina  was 
not  there.  She  had  gone  out  very  early  in  the  morning,  the 
maid-servant  told  him  ;  she  had  done  so  the  last  two  or  three 
days  back — without  waiting  for  breakfast  even. 

"  But  where  docs  she  go  ?"  he  demanded,  wondering. 

"  I  don't  know,  sir,"  the  girl  said ;  so  there  was  nothing  for 
it  but  to  walk  leisurely  away  back  to  Piccadilly — after  all,  Nina 
would  be  sure  to  make  her  appearance  at  the  usual  hour,  which 
was  about  ten. 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  419 

By  the  time  lie  was  nearing  Lionel's  lodgings  again,  he  had 
forgotten  all  about  Nina ;  he  was  thinking  that  now,  since  Lionel 
seemed  on  a  fair  way  to  recovery,  there  might  be  a  little  more 
leisure  for  Francie  and  himself  to  talk  over  their  own  plans  and 
prospects.  He  was  on  the  southern  side  of  Piccadilly,  and 
sometimes  he  glanced  into  the  Green  Park ;  when  suddenly 
his  eye  was  caught  by  a  figure  that  somehow  appeared  familiar. 
Was  not  that  Miss  Ross — walking  slowly  along  a  pathway  be- 
tween the  trees,  her  head  bent  down,  though  sometimes  she 
turned  and  looked  up  towards  the  houses  for  but  a  second,  as 
if  she  were  asking  some  unspoken,  pathetic  question.  She  was 
about  opposite  Lionel's  rooms,  but  some  little  way  inside  the 
Park,  so  that  it  was  not  probable  she  could  be  seen  from  the 
windows.  Well,  Maurice  walked  back  until  he  found  a  gate, 
entered,  and  went  forward  and  overtook  her.  In  fact,  she 
seemed  to  be  simply  going  this  way  and  that,  hovering  about 
the  one  spot,  w^hile  ever  and  anon  a  hopeless  glance  was  cast  on 
the  unresponsive  house-fronts  up  there. 

"  Miss  Ross  !"  he  said. 

She  turned,  quickly,  and  when  she  saw  who  it  was,  her  face 
paled  with  alarm.  For  a  moment  she  could  not  speak.  Her 
eyes  questioned  him — and  yet  not  eagerly ;  there  was  a  terrible 
dread  there  as  well. 

"  Why  are  you  here  ?"  he  asked,  in  his  surprise. 

"  I  could  not  rest  within  doors — I  wished  to  be  nearer,"  she 
answered,  hurriedly  ;  and  then,  fixing  her  eyes  on  him,  she  said, 
"  Well  ?    What  is  it  ?    What  do  they  say  ?" 

"  Oh,  but  I  have  good  news  for  you,"  said  he ;  "  such  excel- 
lent news  that  I  went  away  down  to  Sloane  Street,  so  that  you 
could  hear  it  without  delay.  The  crisis  is  over  and  everything 
going  on  satisfactorily." 

She  murmured  something  in  her  native  tongue  and  turned 
away  her  face.  He  waited  a  minute  or  two,  until  she  brushed 
her  handkerchief  across  her  eyes  and  raised  her  head  somewhat. 

"  Come,"  said  he,  "  we  will  go  in  now.  I  hear  you  have  had 
no  breakfast.  Do  you  want  to  be  ill,  too  ?  Mrs.  Jenkins  will 
get  you  something.     We  can't  have  two  invalids  on  our  hands." 

She  accompanied  him,  with  the  silent  obedience  she  had  shown 
all  the  way  through  ;  she  only  said,  in  a  low  voice,  as  he  opened 
the  door  for  her. 


420  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  I  wonder  if  Leo  will  ever  know  how  kind  you  have  been 
to  every  one  ?" 

This  was  a  happy  day  for  that  household,  though  their  joy 
was  subdued  ;  for  a  shadow  of  possibilities  still  hung  over  them. 
And  perhaps  it  was  the  knowledge  that  now  there  was  every 
probability  of  the  greater  danger  being  removed  that  caused  a 
certain  exaggeration  of  minor  troubles  and  brought  them  to  the 
front.  When  Mangan  begged  his  betrothed  to  go  out  for  a  five- 
minutes'  stroll  in  the  Park  before  lunch,  he  found,  after  all, 
that  it  was  not  his  and  her  own  affairs  that  claimed  their  chief 
attention. 

"  I  don't  know  what  to  do,  Francie,"  he  said,  ruefully.  "  I'm 
in  a  regular  fix,  and  no  mistake.  Here  is  Nina — it  seems  more 
natural  to  call  her  Nina,  doesn't  it? — well,  she  talks  of  going 
away  to-morrow,  now  that  Linn  is  in  a  fair  way  to  get  better. 
She  is  quite  aware  that  he  does  not  know  she  has  been  in  Lou- 
don, or  that  he  has  seen  her ;  and  now  she  wishes  that  he  should 
never  be  told ;  and  that  she  may  get  safely  away  again,  and 
matters  be  just  as  they  were  before.  I  don't  quite  understand 
her,  perhaps ;  she  is  very  proud,  for  one  thing,  but  she  is  very 
much  in  love  with  him — poor  thing !  she  has  tried  to  conceal  it 
as  well  as  ever  she  could  ;  but  you  must  have  seen  it,  Francie — 
a  woman's  eyes  must  have  seen  it — " 

"  Oh,  yes,  Maurice  !"  his  companion  said ;  then  she  added, 
"  And — and  don't  you  think  Linn  is  just  as  much  in  love  with 
her?  I  am  sure  of  it!  It's  just  dreadful  to  think  of  her  going 
away  again — these  two  being  separated  as  they  were  before — 
and  Linn  perhaps  fretting  himself  into  another  illness,  though 
never  speaking  a  word — " 

"  But  how  am  I  to  ask  her  to  stay  ?"  Maurice  demanded,  as 
if  in  appeal  to  her  woman's  wit.  "  There's  Miss  Burgoyne. 
Linn  himself  could  only  ask  Nina  to  stay  on  one  condition — 
and  Miss  Burgoyne  makes  it  impossible." 

"  Then,"  said  Francie,  grown  bold,  "  if  I  were  you,  Maurice, 
I  would  go  straight  to  Miss  Burgoyne,  and  I  would  say  to  her, 
'  My  friend  Lionel  is  in  love  with  another  woman  ;  he  never  was 
in  love  with  you  at  all ;  now  will  you  marry  him  ?'  " 

"  Yes,  very  pretty,"  he  said,  moodily.  "  The  first  thing  she 
would  do  would  be  to  call  a  policeman  and  get  me  locked  up  as 
a  raging  lunatic.     And  what  would  Linn  say  to  me  about  such 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  421 

interference  when  he  came  to  licar  of  it  ?  No,  I  must  leave 
thein  to  manage  their  own  affairs,  however  tliey  may  turn  out; 
the  only  thing  I  should  like  in  the  meantime  would  be  for  Niim 
to  see  Linn  before  she  goes.  That's  all ;  and  that  I  think  I 
could  manage." 

"  How,  Maurice  ?" 

"  Well,  there  is  simply  nothing  she  wouldn't  do  for  Linn's 
sake,"  he  made  answer ;  "  and  if  I  were  to  tell  her  I  thought 
it  would  greatly  help  his  recovery  if  he  were  to  know  that  she 
was  well,  that  she  was  here  in  London  and  ready  to  be  friends 
with  him  and  looking  forward  to  his  getting  better,  then  I  am 
pretty  sure  she  would  remain  for  that  little  time  at  least,  and  do 
anything  we  asked  of  her.  Of  com'se  it  would  not  do  for  them 
to  meet  just  now — Linn  is  too  weak  to  stand  any  excitement — 
and  he  will  be  so  for  some  time  to  come ;  still,  I  think  Nina 
would  wait  that  time  if  we  told  her  she  could  be  of  help.  Then 
once  these  two  have  seen  each  other  and  spoken,  let  them  take 
the  management  of  their  own  affairs.  ^Miy,  good  gracious  me  !" 
he  exclaimed,  in  lighter  tones,  "  haven't  you  and  I  got  our  own 
affairs  to  manage,  too  ?  I  have  just  been  drawing  up  a  code  of 
regulations  for  the  better  governing  of  a  wife  !" 

"  Oh,  indeed  !"  said  Francie. 

"  Yes,  indeed,"  said  he,  firmly.  "  I  am  a  believer  in  the  good 
old  robust  virtues  that  have  made  England  what  she  is — or 
rather,  what  she  has  been.  I'm  not  a  sentimentalist.  If  the 
sentimentalists  and  the  theorists  and  the  faddists  go  on  as  they 
are  doing,  they'll  soon  leave  us  without  any  England  at  all ; 
England  will  be  moralized  away  to  nothing ;  there  will  only  be 
her  name  and  her  literature  left  to  remind  the  world  that  she 
once  existed.  The  equal  rights  of  women — that's  one  of  their 
fads.  The  equal  rights  of  women  !  Bosh !  Women  ought  to 
be  very  proud  and  grateful  that  they  are  allowed  to  live  at  all  ! 
However,  that  is  a  general  principle  ;  the  particular  application 
of  it  is  that  a  man  should  be  master  in  his  own  house,  and  that 
his  wife's  first  and  paramount  duty  is  to  obey  him — " 

"  You  shouldn't  frighten  me  too  soon,  Maurice,"  she  said — 
but  she  did  not  appear  to  be  terribly  scared. 

"  And  I  mean  to  begin  as  I  mean  to  end,"  said  he,  ominous- 
ly, as  they  were  about  to  cross  the  street  on  their  way  back. 
"  I  am  not  going  to  marry  a  wife  who  will  have  all  her  interests 


422  PRINCE    FORTUNATtrS. 

out  of  doors.  I  will  not  allow  it.  A  woman,  madam,  should 
attend  to  her  own  house  and  her  own  husband,  and  not  spend 
her  time  in  gadding  about  hospitals  and  sick-wards  and  making 
friends  and  companions  of  nurses." 

Francie  laughed  at  him. 

"  Why,  Maurice,"  said  she,  as  they  were  about  to  enter,  "  you 
yourself  are  the  very  best  nurse  I  ever  saw  !" 

But  it  was  not  in  this  mood  that  Mangan  received  Miss  Bur- 
goyne  when  she  called  that  afternoon  to  make  inquiries.  She 
and  her  brother  were  shown  to  the  room  up-stairs,  and  thither 
Mangan  followed  them.  He  was  very  polite  and  cold  and 
courteous ;  told  her  that  Lionel  was  getting  on  very  well ;  that 
the  fever  was  subsiding,  and  that  he  was  quite  sensible  again, 
though  very  weak ;  and  said  he  hoped  his  complete  recovery 
Avas  now  only  a  question  of  time.  But  when  the  young  lady — 
with  more  hesitation  than  she  usually  displayed — preferred  a 
request  that  she  might  be  allowed  to  see  Mr.  Moore,  Maurice 
met  that  by  a  gently  decisive  negative. 

"  He  is  not  to  be  disturbed  in  any  way.  Perfect  rest  is  what 
the  doctors  ordain.  He  has  been  left  a  wreck,  but  his  fine  con- 
stitution will  pull  him  through ;  in  the  meantime  we  have  to  be 
most  careful." 

She  was  silent  and  thoughtful  for  a  minute. 

"  I  can't  see  him  ?" 

"  I  think  not — it  would  be  most  unwise.  You  would  not  wish 
to  do  anything  inconsiderate." 

"  Oh,  certainly  not.     May  I  write  to  him,  then  ?"  she  asked. 

"  It  will  be  some  time  before  he  can  attend  to  any  letters. 
You  have  no  idea  how  weak  he  is.  We  want  him  to  remain  in 
perfect  rest  and  quiet." 

"  This  is  Thursday,"  she  said.  "  Supposing  everything  goes 
well,  and  I  called  on  Tuesday  next,  could  I  see  him  then  ?" 

"  By  that  time  it  would  be  easier  to  say,"  he  answered,  with 
diplomatic  ingenuity.     "  I  should  think  it  very  likely." 

"It  will  be  a  long  time  before  he  can  come  back  to  the  the- 
atre ?"  she  asked  again. 

"There  is  no  doubt  about  that." 

"  But  liis  voice  will  be  all  right  when  he  gets  well  ?" 

"  Dr.  Whitscn  seems  to  think  so." 

She  stood  undecided  for  a  moment ;  then  she  said, 


PRINCE    F0RTUNATU8.  433 

"  Well,  I  won't  write  until  you  give  me  leave.  I  don't  mind 
your  seeing  the  letter,  wlien  I  do.  In  the  meantime,  will  you 
tell  Lionel  how  awfully  glad  I  am  that  he  is  going  on  well,  and 
that  we  shall  all  be  glad  to  have  him  back  at  the  theatre  ?" 

"  I  will  give  him  the  message." 

"Thanks — good-bye."  And  therewith  Miss  Burgoyne  and 
her  brother  Jim  withdrew. 

But  if  Maurice  set  his  face  against  that  young  lady  being  al- 
lowed to  see  Lionel  in  his  present  exhausted  condition,  it  was 
quite  otherwise  with  his  notions  about  Nina.  He  talked  to  the 
three  doctors,  and  to  Mrs.  Moore,  and  to  Francie — to  Francie 
most  of  all ;  and  he  maintained  that,  so  far  from  such  a  meeting 
causing  any  mental  disturbance,  the  knowledge  that  Nina  was 
in  London,  was  close  by,  would  only  be  a  source  of  joy  and 
placid  congratulation  and  peace.  They  yielded  at  last,  and  the 
experiment  was  to  be  tried  on  the  Saturday  morning  about 
eleven.  Nina  was  told.  She  trembled  a  little,  but  was  ready 
to  do  whatever  was  required  of  her. 

"  Well,  now,"  said  Maurice  to  her,  when  she  came  up  that 
morning  (he  noticed  that  she  was  dressed  with  extreme  neatness 
and  grace,  and  also  that  she  seemed  pale  and  careworn,  though 
her  beautiful  dark  eyes  had  lost  none  of  their  soft  lustre),  "  we 
mustn't  startle  him.  We  must  lead  up  to  his  seeing  you.  I 
wonder  whether  your  playing  those  Neapolitan  airs  may  not  have 
left  some  impression  on  his  brain  ? — they  might  sound  familiar  ?" 

At  once  Nina  went  to  the  piano  and  silently  opened  it. 

"  I  will  go  and  talk  to  him,"  he  whispered.  "  Just  you  play 
a  little,  and  we'll  see." 

Mangan  went  into  the  next  room  and  began  to  say  a  few 
casual  words,  in  a  careless  kind  of  way,  but  all  the  time  keeping 
watchful  and  furtive  observation  of  his  friend's  face.  And  even 
as  he  spoke  there  came  another  sound — soft  and  low  and  dis- 
tant— that  seemed  to  say,  "^  lafenesta  affaciate — nennela  de  stu 
core — io  faggio  addo  che  spaseml,  ma  spasemo  d'amore — e  cchiu 
non  trovo  requia,  nennclla  mia,  ppe  tef — " 

"  Maurice  !"  said  Lionel,  with  staring  eyes.  "  What  is  that  ? 
Who  is  there  ?" 

"Don't  you  know,  Linn?"  his  friend  said,  tranquilly.  "She 
has  been  here  all  through  your  illness — she  has  played  those 
airs  for  you — " 


424  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  Nina?  Nina  herself?"  Lionel  exclaimed,  but  in  a  low  voice. 

"  Yes.  If  you  like  I  will  bring  her  in  to  see  you.  She  has 
been  awfully  good.  I  thought  it  would  please  you  to  know  she 
was  here.  Now  be  quite  quiet,  and  she  will  come  in  and  speak 
to  you  for  a  minute — for  just  a  minute,  you  know." 

He  went  and  asked  Nina  to  go  into  the  room,  but  he  did  not 
accompany  her ;  he  remained  without.  Nina  went  gently  for- 
ward to  the  bedside. 

"  Leo,  I — I  am  glad  you  are  getting  on  so  well,"  she  said, 
with  admirable  self-possession ;  it  was  only  her  lips  that  were 
tremulous. 

As  for  him,  he  looked  at  her  in  silence,  and  tears  rolled 
down  his  cheek — he  was  so  nerveless.  Then  he  said,  in  his 
weak  voice, 

"  Nina,  have  you  forgiven  me  ?" 

"  What  have  I  to  forgive,  Leo  ?"  she  made  answer ;  and  she 
took  his  hand  for  a  moment.  "  Get  well — it  is  the  prayer  of 
many  friends.  And  if  you  wish  to  see  me  again  before  I  go, 
then  I  will  come — " 

"  Before  you  go  ?"  he  managed  to  say.  "  You  are  going  away 
again,  Nina?" 

His  eyes  were  more  piteous  than  his  speech ;  she  met  that 
look — and  her  resolution  faltered. 

"  At  least,"  she  said,  "  I  will  not  go  until  you  are  well — no. 
When  you  wish  for  me,  I  will  come  to  see  you.  We  are  still 
friends  as  of  old,  Leo,  are  we  not?  Now  I  must  not  remain. 
I  will  say  good-bye  for  the  present." 

"  When  are  you  coming  back,  Nina?"  he  said,  still  with  those 
pleading  eyes. 

"  When  you  wish,  Leo." 

"  This  afternoon  ?" 

"  This  afternoon,  if  you  wish." 

She  pressed  his  hand  and  left.  Her  determined  self-posses- 
sion had  carried  her  bravely  so  far;  there  had  hardly  been  a 
trace  of  emotion.  But  when  she  went  outside — when  the  strain 
was  taken  off — it  may  have  been  otherwise  ;  at  all  events,  when, 
with  bowed  and  averted  head,  she  crossed  the  sitting-room  and 
betook  herself  to  the  empty  chamber  above,  no  one  dreamed  of 
following  her — until  Francie,  some  little  time  thereafter,  went 
quietly  up-stairs   and   tapped  at  the  door   and  entered.     She 


PRINCE    FOKTUNATUS.  435 

found  Nina  stretched  at  full  length  on  the  sofa,  her  head  buried 
in  the  cushion,  sobbing  as  if  her  heart  would  break.  Perhaps 
she  was  thinking  of  the  approaching  farewell. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

TOWARDS     THE     DAWN. 


On  the  Tuesday  about  midday,  according  to  her  promise, 
Miss  Burgoyne  called  and  again  preferred  her  request.  And, 
short  of  a  downright  lie,  Mangan  saw  no  way  of  refusing  her. 

"  At  the  same  time,"  he  said,  in  the  cold  manner  which  he 
unconsciously  adopted  towards  this  young  lady,  "  you  must  re- 
member he  is  far  from  strong  yet ;  and  I  hope  you  have  noth- 
ing to  say  to  him  that  would  cause  agitation,  or  even  involve  his 
speaking  much.  His  voice  has  to  be  taken  care  of,  as  well  as 
his  general  condition." 

''  Oh,  you  may  trust  me  for  that,"  said  she,  with  decision. 
*'  Do  you  think  /  don't  know  how  important  that  is  ?" 

Miss  Burgoyne  went  into  the  room.  Lionel  was  still  in  bed, 
but  propped  up  in  a  sitting  posture ;  and  to  keep  his  arms  and 
shoulders  warm  he  had  donned  a  gorgeous  smoking-jacket,  the 
fantastic  colors  of  which  were  hardly  in  keeping  with  his  char- 
acter as  invalid.  He  knew  of  her  arrival,  and  had  laid  aside  the 
paper  he  had  been  reading. 

"  I  am  so  glad  to  know  you  are  getting  on  so  satisfactorily," 
said  Miss  Burgoyne,  in  her  most  pleasant  way.  "  And  they  tell 
me  your  voice  will  be  all  right  too.  Of  course  you  must  exer- 
cise great  caution  ;  it  will  be  some  time  before  you  can  begin 
your  vocalises  again." 

"  How  is  Doyle  doing  ?"  he  asked,  in  a  fairly  clear  voice. 

"  Oh,  pretty  well,"  said  she,  but  in  rather  a  dissatisfied  fashion. 
"  It  is  difficult  to  say  what  it  is  that  is  wanting — he  looks  well, 
acts  well,  sings  well — a  very  good  performance  altogether — and 
yet — it  is  respectable,  and  nothing  more.  He  really  has  a  good 
voice,  as  you  know,  and  thoroughly  well  trained;  but  it  seems 
to  me  as  if  there  were  in  his  singing  everything  but  the  one 
thing — everything  but  the  thrill  that  makes  your  breath  stop  at 
times.    However,"  added  Miss  Burgoyne,  out  of  her  complaisance, 


426  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  the  public  will  wait  a  long  time  before  they  find  any  one  to 
sing  '  The  Starry  Night '  as  you  sang  it,  and  as  I  hope  you'll  be 
singing  it  again  before  long." 

She  was  silent  for  a  second  or  two  ;  she  seemed  to  have  some- 
thing to  say,  and  yet  to  hesitate  about  saying  it. 

"  I  hear  you  are  going  to  Italy  when  you  are  strong  enough 
to  travel  ?"  she  observed,  at  last. 

"  That  is  what  they  advise." 

"  You  will  be  away  for  some  time  V 

"  I  suppose  so." 

And  again  she  sat  silent  for  a  little  while,  pulling  at  the  fringe 
of  her  rose-lined  sun-shade. 

"  Well,  Lionel,"  she  said,  at  length,  with  downcast  eyes,  "  there 
is  something  I  have  been  thinking  about  for  a  long  time  back, 
and  if  you  are  going  away  very  soon,  and  perhaps  for  a  consid- 
erable while,  I  ought  to  tell  you.  It  may  be  a  relief  to  you  as 
well  as  to  me  ;  indeed,  I  think  it  will ;  if  I  had  imagined  what  I 
have  to  say  would  vex  you  in  any  way,  you  may  be  sure  I 
wouldn't  come  at  such  a  time  as  this.  But  to  be  frank — that 
engagement — do  you  think  we  entered  upon  it  with  any  kind  of 
wisdom,  or  with  any  fair  prospect  of  happiness  ?  Now  if  1 
trouble  you  or  hurt  your  feelings  in  any  way,  you  can  stop  me 
with  a  single  word,"  she  interposed,  and  she  ventured  to  look  up 
a  little  and  to  address  him  more  directly.  "  The  truth  is,  I  was 
flattered  by  such  a  proposal — naturally — and  rather  lost  my  head, 
perhaps,  when  I  ought  to  have  asked  myself  what  was  the  true 
state  of  our  feelings  towards  each  other.  Of  course,  it  was  I 
who  was  in  the  wrong;  I  ought  to  have  considered.  And  I  must 
say  you  have  behaved  most  honorably  throughout ;  you  never 
showed  the  least  sign  of  a  wish  to  break  the  engagement,  even 
when  we  had  our  little  quarrels,  and  you  may  have  received  some 
provocation.  But  after  all,  Lionel,  I  think  you  must  admit  that 
our  relations  have  not  been  quite — quite — what  you  might  ex- 
pect between  two  people  looking  forward  to  spending  their  lives 
together." 

She  paused  here — perhaps  to  give  hihi  an  opportunity  of  sig- 
nifying his  assent.  But  he  refused  to  do  that.  He  uttered  not 
a  word.  It  was  for  her  to  say  what  was  in  her  mind — if  she 
wished  to  be  released. 

"  I  am  quite  sure  that  even  now,  oven  after  what  I  have  just 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  427 

told  you,"  she  continued,  "you  would  be  willing  to  keep  your 
word.  But — but  would  it  be  wise  ?  Just  think.  Esteem  and 
regard  and  respect  there  would  always  be  between  us,  I  hope ; 
but — but  is  that  enough  ?  Of  course  you  may  tell  me  that  as 
you  are  willing  to  fulfil  your  part  of  the  engagement,  so  I  should 
be  on  my  side  ;  and  I  don't  say  that  I  am  not ;  if  you  challenged 
me  and  could  convince  me  that  your  happiness  depended  on  it, 
you  would  see  whether  I  would  draw  back.  But  you  have  heard 
me  so  far  without  a  word  of  protest.  I  have  not  wounded  you. 
Perhaps  you  will  be  as  glad  to  be  free  as  I  shall  be — I  don't 
mean  glad,  Lionel,"  she  hastily  put  in,  "  except  in  the  sense  of 
being  free  from  an  obligation  that  might  prove  disastrous  to 
both  of  us.  Now,  Lionel,  what  do  you  say  ?  You  see  1  have 
been  quite  candid  ;  and  I  hope  you  won't  think  1  have  spoken 
out  of  any  unkindness  or  ill-feeling," 

He  answered  her  at  last. 

"  I  agree  with  every  word  you  have  said." 

A  quick  flash  swept  across  Miss  Burgoyne's  forehead;  but 
probably  he  could  not  have  told  what  that  meant,  even  if  he  had 
been  looking ;  and  he  was  not. 

"  I  hope  you  won't  think  me  unkind,"  she  repeated.  "  I  am 
sure  it  will  be  better  for  both  of  us  to  have  that  tie  broken.  If 
I  had  not  thought  that  it  would  be  as  grateful  to  you  as  to  me 
to  be  released,  be  sure  I  would  not  have  come  and  sjDoken  to 
you  while  you  were  lying  on  a  sick-bed.  Now,  I  promised 
Mr.  Mangan  not  to  talk  too  much  nor  to  agitate  you,"  said  she, 
as  she  rose,  and  smoothed  her  sun-shade,  and  made  ready  to  de- 
part. "  I  hope  you  will  get  strong  and  well  very  soon  ;  and  that 
you  will  come  back  to  the  New  Theatre  with  your  voice  as  splen- 
did as  ever,"  But  still  she  lingered  a  little.  She  felt  that  her 
immediate  departure  might  seem  too  abrupt ;  it  would  look  as 
if  she  had  secured  the  object  of  her  visit,  and  was  therefore 
ready  to  run  away  at  once.  So  she  chatted  a  little  further,  and 
looked  at  the  photographs  on  the  wall ;  and  again  she  hoped  he 
would  be  well  soon  and  back  at  the  theatre.  At  last  she  said, 
"  Well,  good-bye."  Gave  him  her  gloved  hand  for  a  second ; 
then  she  went  out  and  was  joined  by  her  brother.  Mangan  saw 
them  both  down-stairs,  and  returned  to  Lionel's  room. 

"  Had  her  ladyship  any  important  communication  to  make  ?" 
he  asked,  in  his  careless  way. 


438  PRINCE    F0RTUNATU8. 

"  She  proposed  that  our  engagement  should  be  broken  off — 
and  I  consented,"  said  Lionel,  simply. 

Mangan,  who  was  going  to  the  window,  suddenly  stood  stock- 
still  and  stared,  as  if  he  had  not  heard  aright. 

"  And  it  is  broken  off  ?"  he  exclaimed. 

"  Yes." 

There  was  a  dead  silence.     Presently  Maurice  said, 

"  Well,  that  is  the  best  piece  of  news  I  have  received  for  many 
a  day — for  you  don't  seem  heartbroken,  Linn.  And  now — have 
you  any  plans  ? — perhaps  you  have  hardly  had  time  ? — " 

He  was  looking  at  Lionel — wondering  whether  the  same  idea 
was  in  both  their  heads — and  yet  afraid  to  speak. 

*'  Maurice,"  Lionel  said,  presently,  with  some  hesitation,  "  tell 
me — could  I  ask  Nina — look  at  me — such  a  wreck — could  I  ask 
her  to  become  my  wife  ?  It's  about  Capri  I  am  thinking — we 
could  go  together  there,  when  I  am  a  bit  stronger — " 

There  was  a  flash  of  satisfaction  in  the  deep-set,  friendly  gray 
eyes. 

"  This  is  what  I  expected,  Linn.  Well,  put  the  question  to 
herself — and  the  sooner  the  better  !" 

"  Yes,  but —  "  Lionel  said,  as  if  afraid. 

"  Oh,  I  know,"  Maurice  said,  confidently.  "  Tell  Nina  that 
you  are  not  yet  quite  recovered — that  you  have  need  of  her  care 
— and  she  will  go  to  the  world's  end  with  you.  Only  you  must 
get  married  first,  for  the  sake  of  appearances." 

*'  What  will  she  say,  Maurice  ?"  he  asked  again,  as  if  there 
were  some  curious  doubt,  or  perhaps  merely  timidity,  in  his 
mind. 

"  I  think  I  know,  but  I  am  not  going  to  tell,"  his  friend  an- 
swered, lightly.  "  I  am  off  up-stairs  now.  I  will  send  Nina 
down;  but  without  a  word  of  warning.  You'll  have  to  lead  up 
to  it  yourself — and  good-luck  to  you,  my  boy  !"  And  therewith 
Maurice  departed  to  seek  out  Nina  in  the  chamber  above ;  and 
as  he  went  up  the  stairs  lie  was  saying  to  himself,  "Well,  well; 
and  so  Miss  Burgoyne  did  that  of  her  own  free  will?  I  may 
have  done  the  young  woman  some  injustice.  Perhaps  she  is  not 
so  selfish  and  hard  after  all.  Wish  I  had  been  more  civil  to 
her." 

Meanwhile  Miss  Burgoyne  and  her  brother  were  walking  in 
the  direction  of  Recent  Street. 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  429 

"  Now,  Jim,"  she  said,  with  almost  a  gay  air,  "  I  have  just 
completed  a  most  delicate  and  difficult  negotiation,  and  I  feel 
quite  exhausted.  You  must  take  me  into  a  restaurant  and  give 
me  the  very  nicest  and  neatest  bit  of  luncheon  you  can  possibly 
devise — all  pretty  little  trifles,  for  we  mustn't  interfere  with  din- 
ner ;  and  I  am  going  to  see  how  you  can  do  it — " 

"  Well,  but,  Katie,"  he  said,  frowning,  "  where  do  you  sup- 
pose— " 

"  Oh,  don't  be  stupid  !"  she  exclaimed,  slipping  her  purse  into 
his  hand.  "  I  am  going  to  judge  of  your  savoir  faire  ;  I  will  see 
whether  you  get  a  nice  table ;  whether  you  order  the  proper 
things  ;  whether  you  command  sufficient  attention — " 

"  I  was  never  taught  to  bully  waiters,"  said  he. 

"To  bully  waiters ! — is  that  your  notion  of  savoir /aire  P  she 
answered,  lightly.  "  My  dear  Jim,  the  bullying  of  a  waiter  is  the 
most  obvious  and  outward  sign  of  the  ingrained,  incurable  cad. 
No,  no.  That  is  what  I  do  not  expect  of  you,  Jim,  And  I  am 
going  to  leave  the  whole  affair  in  your  hands  ;  for  while  you  are 
ordering  for  me  a  most  elegant  little  luncheon,  I  have  an  ex- 
tremely important  letter  to  send  off." 

So  it  was  that  when  brother  and  sister  were  seated  at  a  small 
table  on  the  ground-floor  of  a  well-known  Regent  Street  restau- 
rant, Miss  Burgoyne  had  writing  materials  brought  her,  and  she 
wrote  her  letter  while  Jim  was  in  shy  confabulation  with  the 
waiter.     It  was  not  a  lengthened  epistle  ;  it  ran  so  : 

"  Tuesday. 
"  Dear  Percy. — Let  it  be  as  you  wish. 

"  Your  loving 

"Kate. 
"  P.S.     When  shall  you  be  in  town  ?     Come  and  see  me." 

She  folded  and  enclosed  and  addressed  the  letter ;  but  she 
did  not  give  it  to  the  waiter  to  post.  It  was  of  too  great  mo- 
ment for  that.  She  put  it  in  her  pocket ;  she  would  herself  see 
it  safely  despatched. 

Well,  for  a  boy,  Jim  had  not  done  so  badly ;  though,  to  be 
sure,  his  sister  did  not  seejn  to  pay  much  attention  to  these  deli- 
cacies. Her  brain  was  too  busy.  As  she  trifled  with  this  thing 
or  that,  or  sipped  a  little  wine,  she  said, 

"Jim,  I  know  what  the  dream  of  your  life  is — it's  to  go  to  a 
big  pheasant-shoot." 


430  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

"  Oh,  is  it  ?"  he  said,  with  the  scorn  born  of  superior  knowl- 
edge. "  Not  much.  I've  tried  my  hand  at  pheasants.  I  know 
what  they  are.  It's  all  very  well  for  those  fellows  in  the  papers 
to  talk  about  the  easy  shooting — the  slaughter — the  tame 
birds — and  all  that  bosh ;  fellows  who  couldn't  hit  a  stuffed 
cockatoo  at  twenty  yards.  No,  thanks  ;  I  know  what  pheasants 
are — the  beasts  !" 

"  Well,  what  kind  of  shooting  would  you  really  like  ?"  said 
this  indulgent  sister. 

"  I'll  tell  you,"  he  said,  with  his  face  brightening.  "  I  should 
like  to  have  the  run  of  a  good  rabbit-warren,  and  to  be  allowed 
to  wander  about  entirely  by  myself,  with  a  gun  and  a  spaniel. 
No  keeper  looking  on  and  worrying  and  criticising — that's  ray 
idea." 

"  All  right,"  said  she,  "  I  think  I  can  promise  you  that." 

"  You  ?"  he  said,  looking  at  her,  and  wondering  if  she  had 
gone  out  of  her  wits. 

"  Yes,"  she  answered,  sweetly.  "  Don't  you  think  there  will 
be  plenty  of  rabbits  about  a  place  like  Petmansworth  ?" 

"  And  what  then  ?" 

"  Well,  I'm  going  to  marry  Sir  Percival  Miles,"  said  Miss 
Kate,  with  much  serene  complacency. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

A    REUNION. 


Here  is  a  long  balcony,  shaded  by  pillared  arches,  the  win- 
dows hung  with  loose  blinds  of  reeds  in  gray  and  scarlet.  If 
you  adventure  out  into  the  hot  sunlight,  you  may  look  away 
down  the  steep  and  rugged  hill,  where  there  are  groups  of  flat- 
roofed,  white  houses  dotted  here  and  there  among  the  dark 
palms  and  olives  and  arbored  vines ;  and  then  your  eyes  nat- 
urally turn  to  the  vast  extent  of  shimmering  blue  sea,  with  the 
faint  outline  of  the  Italian  coast  and  the  peaked  Vesuvius  be- 
yond. But  inside,  in  the  spacious,  rather  bare  rooms,  it  is 
cooler;  and  in  one  of  these,  at  the  farther  end,  stands  a  young 
man  in  front  of  a  piano,  striking  a  chord  from  time  to  time,  and 
exercising  a  voice  that  does  not  seem  to  have  lost  much  of  its 


PRINCE    FORTUNATUS.  431 

timbre  ;  while  there  is  an  exceedingly  pretty,  gentle-eyed,  rather 
foreign-looking  young  lady  engaged  in  putting  flowers  on  the 
central  table,  which  is  neatly  and  primly  laid  out  for  four, 

"  Come,  Leo,"  she  says,  "  is  it  not  enough  ?  You  are  in  too 
great  a  hurry,  I  believe.  Arc  you  jealous  of  Mr.  Doyle  ?  Do 
you  wish  to  go  back  at  once  ?  No,  no ;  we  must  get  Mr.  Mangan 
and  his  bride  to  make  a  long  stay,  before  we  go  over  with  them 
to  the  big  towns  on  the  mainland.  Will  you  go  out  and  see  if 
the  Risjyosta  is  visible  yet." 

"  What  splendid  weather  for  Maurice  and  Francie,  isn't  it, 
Ntoniella  ?"  said  he  (for  there  are  other  pet  names  besides  the 
familiar  Nina  for  any  one  called  Antonia).  "  I  wish  we  could 
have  had  our  wedding-day  along  with  theirs.  Well,  at  least  we 
will  have  our  honeymoon  trip  along  with  them ;  and  we  shall 
have  to  be  their  guides,  you  know,  in  Venice  and  Rome  and 
Florence,  for  neither  of  them  knows  much  Italian." 

"Yes,  but,  Leo,"  said  Nina,  who  was  still  busy  with  her 
flowers,  "  when  we  go  back  with  them  to  Naples,  you  really 
must  speak  properly.  It  is  too  bad — the  dialect — it  is  not  nec- 
essary ;  you  can  speak  well  if  you  wish.  It  was  only  to  make 
fun  of  Sabetta  that  you  began,  now  it  is  always." 

He  only  laughed  at  her  grave  remonstrance. 

"  Oh,  don't  you  preach  at  me,  Ntoniella  !"  he  said,  in  the  very 
language  she  was  deprecating.  "  There  are  lots  of  things  I  can 
say  to  you  that  sound  nicer  that  way." 

He  turned  from  the  piano  at  last  and  took  up  an  English 
newspaper  that  he  had  previously  opened. 

"  Ntonie,  tell  me,  did  you  read  all  the  news  this  morning  ?" 

"  No — a  little,"  Nina  answered,  snipping  off  the  redundant 
stalks  of  the  grapes. 

"  You  did  not  see  the  announcement  about — about  Miss  Cun- 
yngham  ?" 

At  the  mention  of  this  name,  Nina  looked  up  quickly,  and 
there  was  some  color  in  the  pale,  clear  complexion. 

"  No.     What  is  it,  Leo  «" 

"  I  thought  you  might  have  seen  that,  at  all  events,"  he  said, 
lightly.  "  Well,  I  will  read  it  to  you.  '  A  marriage  has  been 
arranged  and  will  shortly  take  place  between  Lord  Rockminster, 
eldest  son  of  the  Earl  of  Fareborough,  and  Miss  Ilonnor  Cun- 
yngham,  daughter  of  the  late  Sir  George  Cunyngham,  and  sister 


432  PRINCE    FORTUNATUS. 

of  Sir  Hugh  Cunyngham,  of  the  Braes,  Perthshire,  and  Aivron 
Lodge,  Campden  Hill.'  I  should  like  to  have  sent  them  a  little 
wedding-present,"  he  went  on,  absently,  "  for  both  of  them  have 
been  very  kind  to  me ;  but  I  am  grown  penurious  in  my  old 
age ;  I  suppose  we  shall  have  to  consider  every  farthing  for 
many  a  day  to  come." 

"  Leo,  why  will  you  not  take  any  of  my  money  ?"  Nina  ex- 
claimed, but  with  shy  and  downcast  face. 

"  Your  money  !"  he  said,  laughing.  "  You  talk  as  if  you  were 
a  Russian  princess,  Ntoniella !" 

He  drew  aside  the  reeded  blind  of  one  of  the  windows  and 
went  out  into  the  soft  air ;  both  land  and  sea — that  beautiful 
stretch  of  shining  blue — seemed  quivering  in  the  heat  and  abun- 
dant sunlight  of  June. 

"  Nina,  Nina  !"  he  called,  "  you  must  make  haste  ;  the  Risposta 
will  soon  be  coming  near,  and  we  must  be  down  in  town  to  wel- 
come Maurice  and  Francie  when  they  come  ashore." 

In  a  second  or  two  she  was  ready,  and  he  also. 

"  There  are  so  many  things  I  shall  have  to  tell  Maurice,"  he 
said,  just  as  they  were  about  to  leave  the  house.  "But  do  you 
think  I  shall  be  able  to  tell  him,  Ntoniella  ?  No.  He  must  guess. 
^yhat  you  have  been  to  me,  what  you  are  to  me,  how  can  I  tell 
him  or  any  one  ?" 

He  took  both  her  hands  in  his  and  looked  long  and  lovingly 
into  her  upturned  face. 

"  JVtonie,  tu  si  state  a  sciorta  mia  /"  he  said,  meaning  thereby 
that  good-fortune  had  befallen  him  at  last.  It  was  a  pretty 
speech,  and  Nina,  with  her  beautiful  dark  eyes  fixed  o'n  his,  an- 
swered him  in  the  same  dialect,  and  almost  in  the  same  terms, 
if  in  a  lower  voice  : 

"  J?  a  sciorta  mia  si  tu  /" 


THE    END. 


BY  CHARLES  DUDLEY  WAKNEll. 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  IN  THE  WORLD.  A  Novel, 
pp.  iv.,  396.     Post  8vo,  Half  Leather,  $1  50. 

STUDIES  IN  THE  SOUTH  AND  WEST,  with  Com- 
ments on  Canada.  pp.  iv.,  484.  Post  Svo,  Half 
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A  witty,  instructive  book,  as  brilliant  in  its  pictures  as  it  is  warm 
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that  we  say  that  we  shall  be  glad  to  learn  that  the  number  of  its 
readers  bears  some  proportion  to  its  merits  and  its  power  for  good. 
— iV.  Y.  ComTJurcial  Advertiser. 

Sketches  made  from  studies  of  the  country  and  the  people  upon 
the  ground. .  .  .  They  are  the  opinions  of  a  man  and  a  scholar  with- 
out prejudices,  and  only  anxious  to  state  the  facts  as  they  were.  .  .  . 
When  told  in  the  pleasant  and  instructive  way  of  Mr.  Warner  the 
studies  are  as  delightful  as  they  are  instructive. — Chicago  Inter- 
Ocean. 

Perhaps  the  most  accurate  and  graphic  account  of  these  portions 
of  the  country  that  has  appeared,  takeu  all  in  all.  ...  It  is  a  book 
most  charming — a  book  that  no  American  can  fail  to  enjoy,  appre- 
ciate, and  highly  prize. — Boston  Traveller. 

THEIR  PILGRIMAGE.  Richly  Illustrated  by  C.  S. 
Reinhart.      pp.  viii.,  364.      Post  Svo,  Half  Leather, 

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Mr.  Waruer's  pen-pictures  of  tbe  characters  typical  of  each  re- 
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surdities peculiar  to  Saratoga,  or  Newport,  or  Bar  Harbor,  as  the 
case  may  be,  are  as  good-natured  as  they  are  clever.  The  satire, 
when  there  is  anj"-,  is  of  the  mildest,  and  the  general  tone  is  that  of 
one  glad  to  look  on  the  brightest  side  of  the  cheerful,  pleasure-seek- 
ing world  with  which  he  mingles. — Christian  Union,  N.  Y. 

Mr.  Reinhart's  spirited  and  realistic  illustrations  are  very  attract- 
ive, and  contribute  to  make  an  unusually  handsome  book.  We 
have  already  commented  upon  the  earlier  chapters  of  the  text;  and 
the  happy  blending  of  travel  and  fiction  which  we  looked  forward 
to  with  confidence  did,  in  fact,  distinguish  this  story  among  the 
serials  of  the  year. — -V.  Y.  Evening  Post. 


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them  in  literary  form,  make  him  peculiarly  successful  in  his  attempts 
at  graceful,  delicately  humorous  dialogue.  .  .  .  He  can  make  his  char- 
acters talk  delightful  badinage,  or  he  can  make  them  talk  so  char- 
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Delightful  touches  justify  those  who  see  many  points  of  analogy 
between  Miss  Woolsou  and  George  Eliot. — N.  T.  Times. 

For  tenderness  and  purity  of  thouglit,  for  exquisitely  delicate 
sketching  of  characters,  Miss  Woolson  is  unexcelled  among  writers 
of  fiction. — New  Orleans  Picayune. 

Characterization  is  Miss  Woolson's  forte.  Her  men  and  women 
are  not  mere  puppets,  but  original,  breathing,  and  finely  contrasted 
creations.  —  GMcago  Tribune. 

Miss  Woolson  is  one  of  the  few  novelists  of  the  day  who  know 
how  to  make  conversation,  how  to  individualize  the  speakers,  how 
to  exclude  rabid  realism  without  falling  into  literary  formality. — 
N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Constance  Fenimore  Woolson  may  easily  become  the  novelist 
laureate. — Boston  Globe. 

IVIiss  Woolson  has  a  graceful  fancy,  a  ready  wit,  a  polished  style, 
and  conspicuous  dramatic  power;  while  her  skill  in  the  develop- 
ment of  a  story  is  very  remarkable. — London  Life. 

Miss  Woolson  never  once  follows  the  beaten  track  of  the  orthodox 
novelist,  but  strikes  a  new  and  richly  loaded  vein  which,  so  far,  is 
all  her  own;  and  thus  we  feel,  on  reading  one  of  her  works,  a  fresh 
sensation,  and  we  put  down  the  book  with  a  sigh  to  think  our  pleas- 
ant task  of  reading  it  is  finished.  The  autlior's  lines  must  have 
fallen  to  her  in  very  pleasant  places;  or  she  has,  perhaps,  within 
herself  the  wealth  of  womanly  love  and  tenderness  she  pours  so 
freely  into  all  she  writes.  Such  books  as  hers  do  much  to  elevate 
the  moral  tone  of  the  day — a  quality  sadly  wanting  in  novels  of  the 
time.  —  Whitehall  lieneic,  London. 


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CHITA: 

A  Memory  of  Last  Island.    By  Lafcadio  Hearn.    pp.  vi., 
204.     Post  8vo,  Cloth,  Ornamental,  $1  00. 


To  such  as  are  unfamiliar  with  Mr.  Hearn's  writings, ' '  Chita  "  will 
be  a  revelation  of  how  near  language  can  approacii  the  realistic  pow- 
er of  actual  painting.  His  very  words  seem  to  have  color — liis  pages 
glow — his  book  is  a  kaleidoscope. — JV.  Y.  Mail  and  Exjjress. 

A  powerful  story,  rich  in  descriptive  passages.  .  .  .  The  tale  is  a 
tragic  one,  but  it  shows  remarkable  imaginative  force,  and  is  one 
that  will  not  soon  be  forgotten  by  the  reader. — Saturday  Evening 
Gazette,  Boston. 

Mr.  Lafcadio  Hearn  may  be  called  an  artist  in  the  use  of  the  Eng- 
lish language.  .  .  .  No  such  brilliant  sketch  of  the  outlets  of  the 
great  river,  and  their  surroundings,  has  been  written  before.  —  Cin- 
cinnati Commercial-  Gazette. 

Lafcadio  Hearn's  exquisite  story.  ...  A  tale  full  of  poetry  and 
vivid  description  that  nobody  will  want  to  miss. — N.  Y.  Sun. 

A  pathetic  little  tale,  simple  but  deeply  touching,  and  told  with 
the  beauty  of  phrasing  and  the  deep  and  subtle  sympathy  of  the 
poet. — Chicago  Times. 

There  is  no  page — no  paragraph  even — but  holds  more  of  vital 
quality  than  would  suffice  to  set  up  an  ordinary  volume.  —  The 
Epoch.,  N.  Y. 

The  book  will  please  any  lover  of  style,  because  of  the  magnificent 
effects  produced  by  this  master  of  language.  ...  A  wonderfully  sus- 
tained effort  in  imaginative  prose,  full  of  the  glamour  and  opulent 
color  of  the  tropics  and  yet  strong  with  the  salt  breath  of  the  sea. — 
San  EranciHco  Chronicle. 

Mr.  Hearn  is  a  poet,  and  in  "Chita"  he  has  produced  a  prose  poem 
of  much  beauty.  .  .  .  His  style  is  tropical,  full  of  glow  and  swift 
movement  and  vivid  impressions,  reflecting  strong  love  and  keen 
sympathetic  observation  of  nature,  jiicturesque  and  flexible,  luxuri- 
ant in  imagery  and  marked  by  a  delicate  perception  of  effective  val- 
ues.— N.  Y.  Tribune. 

In  the  too  few  pages  of  this  wonderful  little  book  tropical  Nature 
finds  a  living  voice  and  a  speech  by  which  slie  can  make  herself 
known.  All  the  splendor  of  her  skies  and  tiie  terrors  of  her  seas 
make  to  themselves  a  language.  So  living  a  book  has  scarcely  been 
given  to  our  generation. — Bosto7i  Transcript. 

Lafcadio  Hearn  has  made  a  name  for  liimself  with  his  little  story, 
"  Chita."  ...  It  is  a  very  simple  tale,  and  yet  Mr.  Hearn  has  made  a 
gem  of  it. — San  Francisco  Argonaut. 


Published  by  HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  New  York. 

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THE  ODD  NUMBER. 

Thirteen  Tales  by  Guy  de  Maupassant.  The  Translation  by 
Jonathan  Sturges.  An  Introduction  by  Henry  James. 
pp.  xviii.,  22G.      lOmo,  Cloth,  Ornamental,  $1   00. 


The  tales  included  in  "The  Odd  Number"  are  little  master- 
pieces, and  done  into  very  clear,  sweet,  simple  English. — William 
Dean  Howells. 

There  is  a  charming  Individuality  in  each  of  these  fascinating 
little  tales;  something  elusive  and  subtle  in  every  one,  something 
quaint  or  surprising,  whicli  catches  the  fancy  and  gives  a  sense  of 
satisfaction  like  that  felt  when  one  discovers  a  rare  flower  in  an 
unexpected  place.  I  predict  that  "  The  Odd  Number  "  will  soon  be 
found  lying  in  the  corner  of  the  sofa  or  on  the  table  in  the  drawing- 
rooms  of  cultivated  women  everywhere. — Margaret  E.  Sangster. 

Masterpieces.  .  . .  Nothing  can  exceed  the  masculine  firmness,  the 
quiet  force,  of  his  own  st5de,  in  which  every  phrase  is  a  close 
sequence,  every  epitliet  a  paying  piece,  and  the  ground  is  completely 
cleared  of  the  vague,  the  ready-made,  and  the  second-best.  Less 
than  any  one  to-day  does  he  beat  the  air,  more  than  any  one  does 
he  hit  out  from  the  shoulder.  .  .  .  He  came  into  the  literary  world, 
as  lie  has  himself  related,  under  the  protection  of  the  great  Flaubert. 
This  was  but  a  dozen  years  ago — for  Guy  de  Maupassant  belongs, 
among  the  distinguished  Frenchmen  of  his  period,  to  the  new  gen- 
eration.— Henry  James. 

As  a  rule  I  do  not  take  kindly  to  translations.  They  are  apt  to 
resemble  the  originals  as  canned  or  dried  fruits  resemble  fresh. 
But  Mr.  Sturges  has  preserved  flavor  and  juices  in  this  collection. 
Each  story  is  a  delight.  Some  are  piquant,  some  pathetic — all  are 
fascinating. — Marion  Harland. 

•  What  pure  and  powerful  outlines,  what  lightness  of  stroke,  and 
what  precision;  what  relentless  truth,  and  yet  what  charm!  "The 
Beggar,"  "La  M^re  Sauvage,"  "The  Wolf,"  grim  as  if  they  had 
dropped  out  of  the  mediaeval  mind;  "The  Necklace,"  with  its  ap- 
plied pessimism;  the  tremendous  fire  and  strength  of  "  A  Coward  "; 
the  miracle  of  splendor  in  "  Moonlight";  the  absolute  perfection  of 
a  short  story  in  "Happiness" — how  various  the  view,  how  daring 
the  touch!  What  freshness,  what  invention,  and  what  wit !  They 
are  beautiful  and  heart-breaking  little  masterjiieces,  and  "  The  Odd 
Number  "  makes  one  feel  that  Guy  de  ]\Iaupassant  lays  his  hand 
upon  the  sceptre  which  only  Daudet  holds. — Harriet  Prescott 
Spofford 


Published  by  HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  New  York. 

The  above  u-ork  sent  hy  mail,  postage  prepaid,  to  any  part  of  the  United  States, 
Canada,  or  Mexico,  on  receipt  of  the  price. 


SUMMER  HOLIDAYS. 

Travelling  Notes  in  Europe.    By  Theodore  Child,    pp.  vi., 
304.     Post  8vo,  Cloth,  Ornamental,  $1  25. 


A  delightful  book  of  notes  of  European  travel.  .  .  .  Mr.  Child  is 
an  art  critic,  and  takes  us  into  the  picture-galleries,  but  we  never 
get  any  large  and  painful  doses  of  art  information  from  this  skilful 
and  discriminating  guide.  There  is  not  a  page  of  his  book  that  ap- 
proaches to  dull  reading. — JV.  Y.  Sun. 

Mr.  Child  is  a  shrewd  observer  and  writer  of  an  engaging  style. 
He  interests  the  reader  with  abundant  information,  and  pleases  him 
by  his  lively  manner  in  communicating  it. — Hartford  Courant. 

The  writer  wields  an  easy,  graceful  pen,  and  makes  his  book  one 
that  will  gild  with  its  enchantment  many  an  hour. — Christian  at 
Work,  N.  Y. 

Mr.  Child  is  always  a  brilliant  and  interesting  writer,  and  his 
sketches  of  travels  are  invariably  picturesque  and  animated  in  style. 
— Saturday  Evening  Gazette,  Boston. 

Mr.  Child  is  a  very  agreeable  travelling  companion,  and  his  choice 
of  places  for  a  summer  ramble  is  excellent.  .  .  .  The  French  chap- 
ters— on  Limoges,  Reims,  Aix-les-Bains,  and  especially  the  voyage 
on  French  rivers — are  abundant  in  novelty  and  odd  bits  of  interest, 
as  well  as  in  beauty  of  scene  and  sympathy. — Nation,  N.  Y. 

A  book  which  is  so  far  out  of  the  routine  of  ordinary  works  of 
travel  that  it  will  be  a  treat  to  readers  who  do  their  travelling  in  slip- 
pers by  the  evening  lamp.  .  .  .  The  author  gives  glimpses  of  many 
by-ways  which  the  ordinary  tourist  never  dreams  of.  He  is,  more- 
over, a  philosopher,  something  of  a  poet,  a  good  judge  of  art  and 
architecture,  and,  finally,  a  cosmopolitan  with  catholic  tastes,  but 
with  an  eager  curiosity  which  no  amount  of  sight-seeing  can  ever 
sate. — San  Francisco  Chronicle. 

A  very  pleasant  volume  of  sketches  by  an  accomplished  traveller/ 
who  knows  how  to  see  and  how  to  describe,  and  who  can  give  real 
information  without  wearisome  detail. — Providence  Journal. 

Mr.  Child's  notes  have  not  only  the  charm  of  a  practised  and 
graceful  pen,  but  that  of  unusual  originality  of  theme  to  recom- 
mend them. — NeiD  Haven  Palladium. 

Mr.  Child  is  right  in  assuming  that  there  are  many  people  who 
adopt  that  safe  mode  of  travel,  in  an  arm-chair  by  the  fireside.  To 
those  who  so  travel,  not  less  than  to  experienced  wanderers,  these 
sketches  of  the  Danube  and  Constantinople,  of  Naples,  Milan,  Vero- 
na, Venice,  Florence,  Frankfort,  Cassel,  Brunswick,  Munich,  Limo- 
ges, Reims,  Aix-les-Bains,  and  Holland,  will  be  read  with  lively 
pleasure.  — Brooklyn  Times. 

PuBLrsHED  BY  HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  New  York. 

jBE^  The  above  work  Rent  by  mail,  pontage  prepaid,  to  any  part  of  the  United  States, 
Canada,  or  Mexico,  on  receipt  of  the  price. 


STEPNIAK'S  WORKS. 


THE  CAREER  OF  A  NIHILIST.     A  Novel.     16mo, 
Cloth,  Y6  cents. 

THE  RUSSIAN  PEASANTRY:   Their  Agrarian  Con- 
dition, Social  Life,  and  Religion.     16mo,  Cloth,  $1  25. 

All  thinking  and  disinterested  people  for  whom  Russia  has  an 
interest  should  read  this  volume  not  only  for  Russia's  sake,  but  for 
our  own. — iV!  Y.  Times. 

An  absorbingly  interesting  volume.  . .  .  Stepniak  deserves  the  grati- 
tude of  his  country  and  all  mankind  for  painting  Russian  life  as  it 
is,  and  pointing  out  a  practicable  solution  of  its  worst  distresses. — 
Literary  World,  Boston. 

Altogether  Stepniak's  best  book. — St.  James's  Gazette,  London. 

A  deeply  interesting  study  of  a  subject  full  of  strange  new  ele- 
ments.— N.  Y.  Tribune. 

For  the  student  of  Russia  the  book  is  invaluable.  It  contains 
more  information,  aiwi  gives  us  a  better  insight  into  the  economic 
and  domestic  conditions  of  life  among  the  peasants,  and  in  Russia 
generally,  than  in  any  other  book  we  know. — The  Academy,  London. 

RUSSIA   UNDER    TPIE   TZARS.      Illustrated.     4to, 
Paper,  20  cents. 

The  book  is  very  bold  and  very  brilliant ;  it  rests  very  largely  on 
the  author's  personal  experience,  and  no  student  of  Russia  should 
leave  it  unread  or  unnoticed. — Boston  Beacon. 

A  graphic  and  startling  picture  of  the  despotism  that  rules  the 
Muscovite  nation,  drawn  by  the  pen  of  one  of  the  ablest  and  most 
pronounced  Nihilists  of  the  day. — Chicago  Journal. 

THE  RUSSIAN  STORM-CLOUD ;  or,  Russia  in  Her 

Relation  to  Neighboring  Countries.    4to,  Paper,  20  cts. 

The  author  writes  with  a  calmness  and  precision  not  generally 
associated  with  the  class  of  revolutionists  to  which  he  belongs. — 
N.  Y.  Sun. 

Stepniak  gives  a  comprehensive  view  of  the  matter  which  he  dis- 
cusses, and  his  work  is  valuable  as  furnishing  "the  true  inwardness" 
of  affairs  in  the  empire  of  the  Tzar. — Christian  Advocate,  Cincinnati. 


Published  by  HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  New  York. 

JJS'  Any  of  the  above  works  sent  by  mail,  postage  prepaid,  to  any  part  of  the 
United  Utates,  Canada,  or  Mexico,  on  receipt  of  the  price. 


BEN-HUR:  A  TALE  OF  THE  CHIUST. 

By  Lew.  Wallace.     New  Edition,     pp.  552.     16mo, 

Cloth,  $1  50. 


-  Anything  so  startling,  new,  anfl  distinctive  as  the  leading  feature  of 
this  romance  does  not  often  appear  in  woriis  of  fiction.  .  .  .  Some  of  Mr. 
Wallace's  writing  is  remariiable  for  its  pathetic  eloquence.  The  scenes 
described  in  the  New  Testament  are  rewritten  with  the  power  and  skill  of 
an  accomplished  master  of  style. — iV.  V.  Times. 

Its  real  basis  is  a  description  of  the  life  of  the  Jews  and  Romans  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Christian  era,  and  this  is  both  forcible  and  brilliant.  .  .  . 
We  are  carried  through  a  surprising  variety  of  scenes ;  we  witness  a  sea- 
fight,  a  chariot-race,  the  internal  economy  of  a  Roman  galley,  domestic  in- 
teriors at  Antioch,  at  Jerusalem,  and  among  the  tribes  of  the  desert;  pal- 
aces, prisons,  the  haunts  of  dissipated  Roman  youth,  the  houses  of  pious 
families  of  Israel.  There  is  plenty  of  exciting  incident ;  everything  is  ani- 
mated, vivid,  and  glowing. — K  Y.  Tribune. 

From  the  opening  of  the  volume  to  the  very  close  the  reader's  interest 
will  be  kept  at  the  highest  pitch,  and  the  novel  will  be  pronounced  by  all 
one  of  the  greatest  novels  of  the  day. — Boston  Post. 

It  is  full  of  poetic  beauty,  as  though  born  of  an  Eastern  sage,  and  there 
is  sufficient  of  Oriental  customs,  geography,  nomenclature,  etc.,  to  greatly 
strengthen  the  semblance. — Boston  Commonwealth. 

"Ben-Hur"  is  interesting,  and  its  characterization  is  fine  and  strong. 
Meanwhile  it  evinces  careful  study  of  the  period  in  which  the  scene  is  laid, 
and  will  help  those  who  read  it  with  reasonable  attention  to  realize  the 
nature  and  conditions  of  Hebrew  life  in  Jerusalem  and  Roman  life  at 
Antioch  at  the  time  of  our  Saviour's  advent. — Examiner,  N.  Y. 

It  is  really  Scripture  history  of  Christ's  time  clothed  gracefully  and  deli- 
cately in  the  flowing  and  loose  drapery  of  modern  fiction.  .  .  .  Few  late 
works  of  fiction  excel  it  in  genuine  ability  and  interest. — N.  Y.  Graphic. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  and  delightful  books.  It  is  as  real  and 
warm  as  life  itself,  and  as  attractive  as  the  grandest  and  most  heroic  chap- 
ters of  history. — Indianapol'is  Journal. 

The  book  is  one  of  unquestionable  power,  and  will  be  read  with  un- 
wonted interest  by  many  readers  who  are  weary  of  the  conventional  novel 
and  romance. — Boston  Jo^irnal. 


Published  by  HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  New  York. 

a®"  The  above  work  sent  by  mail,  postage  prepaid,  to  any  part  of  the  United  Slateo 
or  Canada,  on  receipt  of  tl^e  price. 


i 


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